Tide Softball Wins Hampton Inn Crimson Classic Championship
2/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The University of Alabama softball team defeated #22 N.C. State, 6-0, on Sunday in the championship game of the Hampton Inn Crimson Classic Championship.
The Tide improved to 16-0 on the season and won its third tournament championship of 2007. They also won the Century-Tel Softball Classic in San Marcos, Texas and the Hampton Inn BAMA BASH! last weekend. This was the third straight Crimson Classic championship for Alabama.
"I think we are really coming together and playing as a team and that was the most important thing for us," said Crimson Classic MVP Lauren Parker. "Coming in to the season you just want to see what you can do against other teams and we came in as a team and as a family and that really has helped us a lot."
Alabama didn't waste any time gaining an edge in the contest as they put two runs on the board right out of the gate. They started the bottom of the first inning with walks by Brittany Rogers and Jordan Praytor. Two batters later, Parker stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and was hit by a pitch to knock in a run. Dani Woods followed with a single to center field to score one more run and make it 2-0.
Mandy Burford gave the Tide a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning with a hard hit single that the pitcher, Abbie Sims couldn't make a play on. The Wolfpack threatened the lead in the fifth inning. Shanna Smith and Megan Dalthorp had back-to-back singles to start the frame. However, Chrissy Owens got a strikeout and a fielder's choice ground out for two outs and Ashley Holcombe lasered a shot to Parker at second base to pickoff Dalthorp and end the inning.
Bama used the momentum to add two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Woods drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to center and Kellie Eubanks laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Parker, who doubled to center field earlier in the inning.
Alabama tacked on one more run for the 6-0 victory, the team's eighth shutout of the season in 16 games. Owens earned a spot on the All-Tournament team with her third victory of the tournament and eighth of the year. She allowed struck out four and walked two to go along with seven hits. The shutout was the 13th of her career, moving her into fourth on the all-time list. She has four shutouts in eight starts this season.
Woods finished 1-of-2 with two RBI while Parker went 2-for-3 with a run and a RBI. Burford was 1-for-1 with a walk and hit-by-pitch. She stole two bases in the game to give her a team-high 13 on the season. Allison Presnell and Smith were each 2-for-3 to lead N.C. State.
Parker was named the Hampton Inn Crimson Classic MVP. She set or matched tournament records with a .643 (9-of-14) avg., six runs scored, nine hits and three doubles. She also hit one home run, had six RBI and stole two bases. She reached base two out of every three plate appearances (.667 OBP) and had a 1.071 slugging pct.
"It feels good, but any of the players on our team could have been named MVP," said Parker. "It feels special but to win this tournament it had to be a team effort because there were so many great teams."
Rogers was also named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .500 (8-of-16) with six runs, one double, one triple, three RBI and four stolen bases. She also ended the game with an outfield assist in the first meeting against #22 N.C. State on Friday.
The Tide exploded in its semifinal contest against Winthrop scoring 14 runs in the five-inning 14-1 victory. They scored 10 of those runs on nine hits and three walks in the second inning. Five of the nine hits were doubles. The 10 runs tied for the second most scored in a single inning in school history. The record is 14 in a game against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi in 2001.
Eubanks and Holcombe started off the monstrous inning with back-to-back singles. After a walk by Kelley Montalvo, Rogers switched from the left to the right side of the plate and drove a double off the wall in left center to score two runs. Praytor then came up and knocked in two more with her third double of the year. Three batters later Parker joined in with a two-run double and then scored on another two-run double, this time by Woods. Two outs later Montalvo doubled to center field to drive in a run and after a walk by Jessica Smith, Praytor tallied her third RBI of the inning and fourth of the game with a single left field to make it 13-0 in favor of the Tide.
"I think everybody got on base that inning," said Parker. "Everybody either got a hit or got on base so all the way around it was just an awesome effort by the team. To have a big inning like that it really kills the other team's confidence."
Alabama finished the game with a season-high 14 runs and 15 hits. They tallied seven doubles in the game and reached base 18 times in 30 plate appearances. As a team they set four tournament records including runs (14), hits (15), RBI (13) and doubles (7).
Praytor led the way with a career-high four hits in four at bats. She also matched a career high with four RBI to go along with two runs scored. Rogers extended her hitting streak to 12 games with a 2-for-2, two runs, two RBI day. Her streak was later snapped in the championship game. Charlotte Morgan went 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored while Eubanks also recorded two hits and one RBI in the contest. Lisa Kingsmore led the Eagles with two hits in two at bats.
Morgan earned her fourth win of the year. She pitched three innings and allowed one run on five hits with two strikeouts. Allison Moore finished the game with two walks and four strikeouts in two scoreless innings. Megan Evans only pitched one inning and gave up four earned runs in one inning to fall to 2-4 on the year.
In the first semifinal game, #2 seed Indiana State and #3 seed N.C. State battled in a close game. The Wolfpack threatened early, loading the bases on three singles but Indiana State's ace Darcy Wood got out of the jam by striking out Megan Dalthorp.
In the third inning, it was the Sycamores who loaded the bases. A hit batter, an error and a walk started the inning to fill the bases. The Wolfpack's pitcher, Shaina Ervin, fought back to force a popup back to her and then a strikeout swinging, but a two-out hard single up the middle by Audrey Childress brought in two runs, even thought N.C. State's shortstop, Shanna Smith made a diving stop on the ball.
N.C. State showed why they are ranked No. 22 in the country when they came back to take the lead in the fifth inning on some key two-out hits. Heather Gelbard cut the lead in half with a double to left field to score Allison Presnell. A walk and an error kept the inning alive, loading the bases for Miranda Ervin, who drove a triple to right field to score three runs and give the Wolfpack a 4-2 lead.
The Wolfpack increased its lead to three runs when Shanna Smith tripled with one out and scored after Allison Presnell followed with a double to center field. Indiana State made the game interesting in the bottom of the seventh inning when Sam Markowski hit a two-run home run to left field to make it 5-4. However, Ervin closed out the game with two straight groundouts.
Ervin went seven innings with four runs on two hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts. She picked up the win to improve to 4-2 for the season. Wood also pitched seven innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts to fall to 5-3 on the year.
Ervin also had three RBI in the game while N.C. State scattered six other hits. Childress and Markowksi both had two RBI in the game for Indiana State.
Alabama will hit the road on Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. contest with Samford in Birmingham. The Tide will look to stay undefeated as they on the road for the first time since Feb. 11.
2007 Hampton Inn Crimson Classic All-Tournament Team
Rebecca Horesky ?? Western Kentucky
Jenny Scrymgeour ?? Winthrop
Darcy Wood ?? Indiana State
Audrey Childress ?? Indiana State
Shaina Ervin ?? N.C. State
Heather Gelbard ?? N.C. State
Chrissy Owens ?? Alabama
Brittany Rogers ?? Alabama
MVP ?? Lauren Parker - Alabama
