Alabama Softball Stays Undefeated With Two Victories
2/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The University of Alabama softball team continued its hot start to the 2007 season with two more victories to begin the Hampton Inn Crimson Classic on Friday.
The Crimson Tide improved to 12-0 on the year with a pair of shutouts to run their season total to seven in 12 games. Alabama has only allowed seven runs so far this season while scoring 93 times.
"I think Chrissy (Owens) might have pitched her best game of the year by far and Charlotte (Morgan) followed it," said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy. "Both of them were really sharp with only one walk between the two which was a goal for us. We had some timely hits, some good baserunning and some good at bats in both games. We battled hard for 12 innings.
Alabama opened the tournament with a 3-0 victory over #22 N.C. State, the first ranked opponent UA has faced in the 2007 season. Alabama received a stellar pitching performance from its ace, Chrissy Owens.
After allowing a two-out single in the first inning, Owens turned on the heat and retired 18 straight batters. The next hit she allowed came with two outs to go in the seventh inning. The Wolfpack managed three singles in the inning, but the Tide preserved the shutout when Brittany Rogers gunned out Krystal Hawkins at home to end the game.
Owens finished the contest with four hits allowed and six strikeouts to improve to 6-0 on the season. She did not walk a batter and only threw 79 pitches for the complete game. The shutout was the third of the season for Owens and 12th of her career. She is one shutout shy of moving into fourth on the all-time list. Owens has only allowed one run in 33 innings this season for a 0.21 ERA.
"I just went out there and threw what was being called and I knew my defense was going to back me up," said Owens. "We were just trying to go after the hitters and they were putting it in play to the defense. The defense has been awesome in every game this year."
Alabama scattered three runs on six hits in the game. They put their first run on the board in the third inning with a RBI groundout by Mandy Burford. In the fifth inning, Katie Johnson scored on a wild pitch after hitting a double down the left field line. The Tide tacked on one more run in the sixth after Charlotte Morgan led off the inning with a double to right center and Lauren Parker hit an infield single. A pair of interference calls kept Alabama from having a big inning but Parker did come around to score on a throwing error by the shortstop.
Rogers finished the game 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot while Parker also had two hits and scored a run. Johnson scored two of the Tide's three runs in the game. Shaina Ervin pitched all six innings for N.C. State and struck out six but gave up two earned runs on six hits and a walk.
"N.C. State is going to win a lot of games for sure," said Murphy. "That was the best drop ball we have seen all year. They are going to win a ton of games and it is good for us to face good competition. Really everybody here has showed that they are very good teams."
In the final game of the day, Alabama took just five innings to dispose of Winthrop. The Tide scored in every inning and tallied eight runs on eight hits in the game for an 8-0 victory.
Bama opened the games with a pair of runs as Jordan Praytor drove in Rogers with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Burford. The Tide added two more runs in the second on a double to right center by Kelley Montalvo and a triple to center field by Rogers.
In the third inning, Kellie Eubanks singled up the middle to drive in Burford. Eubanks finished the game with a hit and two walks to reach base in all three of her plate appearances. Rogers scored again in the fourth on a fielding error by the shortstop. UA sealed the victory with two more runs in the fifth to make the final score 8-0.
Rogers extended her hitting streak to nine games and finished 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and one RBI. She also recorded her 11th stolen base of the season to move into a tie for fourth on the all-time list. Parker also went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Montalvo drove in two runs with a double and a sacrifice fly.
Morgan earned her third collegiate victory with only two hits allowed, one walk and four strikeouts in five innings.
The opening game of the tournament was a pitcher's duel with both squads finding hits hard to come by. The game remained scoreless through eight innings before #22 N.C. State scored the game's first run in the top of the ninth inning.
Heather Gelbard was placed on second and she came around to score on a single by Jen Chamberlin to put the Wolfpack in front 1-0. In the bottom half of the frame, N.C. State had a chance to close out the victory with two outs. Audrey Childress hit a fly ball to right field that was dropped by Krystal Hawkins, allowing two runs to score to give the Sycamores a 2-1 win in nine innings.
Darcy Wood picked up the victory for N.C. State throwing nine innings with six hits and one unearned run allowed with two walks and 12 strikeouts. Abbie Sims received the loss even though she pitched the final 5 2/3 innings and only allowed one hit with seven strikeouts. Childress had two of the four hits for ISU and Blair Harkey tallied three of the Wolfpack's six hits in the contest.
The extra-inning trend continued into the second game as Western Kentucky and Winthrop took eight innings to decide an outcome. After Pearl Coleshill was placed on second base to start the bottom half of the eighth, Sarah Magee hit a one-out double to left field to drive in the winning run.
Western Kentucky jumped out to a big lead in the game with a four-run first inning. With two outs they loaded the bases on two walks and an error. Lindsay Antone then hit a grand slam to left center to give the Hilltoppers a 4-0 lead. Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Winthrop rallied to tie the score with four runs. With two outs Magee hit a double to left field to drive in two runs. Lauren Blaser later tied the score with a two-run single to left field.
Magee led the Eagles with a 3-for-4 day, one run and three RBI. Izzy Trottier allowed only five hits and one earned run in seven innings before handing the ball to Megan Evans, who picked up the win. Jennifer Kempf received the loss for the Hilltoppers, pitching 1/3 of an inning.
The third game of the day also came down to the final inning as Indiana State edged Western Kentucky 2-1. The Sycamores received another strong pitching performance as Meagan McCurdy and Darcy Wood combined to allow one unearned run on two hits with seven strikeouts. McCurdy earned the win while Wood picked up the save. Kempf received the loss after allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts in seven innings.
Katie Iocoangeli put Indiana State on the board first with a RBI single in the third inning to drive in Meredith Simpson. The Sycamores took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Lauren Kebely hit a RBI single. WKU cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth inning when Terri Ellingsworth came in to score on an error, but that was as close as they would get as they went down 1-2-3 in the seventh.
The tournament will continue with six games on Saturday. The teams will finish pool play for the first five games on the day and then the #4 and #5 seeds will square off against each other to cap the day's action. Sunday will feature two semifinal games and the championship game at 1:30 p.m.
