#5 Alabama 3, #22 N.C. State 0
2/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - 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.
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.
