Third-Ranked Tide Softball to Host Easton Spring Fling
3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? After taking to the road for an 8-1 victory over Samford on Wednesday in Birmingham, the No. 3 Crimson Tide will now return home to host the Easton Spring Fling this weeked at the Alabama Softball Complex. They will welcome Seton Hall and No. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette to Tuscaloosa for three days of action.
Scouting the Opponents
Seton Hall - The Pirates are coming off their first victory of the season after starting the year 0-10. They defeated Hofstra 5-3 in the NFCA Leadoff Classic. They are 0-2 vs. ranked teams with close losses to Florida State and Nebraska. Jenna Best is their top hitter with a .308 avg. They have struggled to find a starting pitcher using five different players. Kim Schweitzer leads the way with a 4.77 ERA and is 0-6 on the year.
#11 Louisiana-Lafayette - The Ragin' Cajuns bring an 18-2 record to the Capstone with surprising losses to Nicholls State and Alcorn State. They have earned four wins over ranked teams defeating both #14 Georgia and #17 Baylor twice. They have 20 home runs as a team and are averaging 6.7 runs per game. Codi Runyan has six of those and leads the team with a .386 avg. and 20 runs scored. Brittany Cuevas is 11-0 on the mound with a 0.93 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
Welcome Back Lacy Prejean
Former Alabama catcher Lacy Prejean returns to her alma mater as an assistant coach for Louisiana-Lafayette. She was a 2003 Easton All-American and was a four-time All-SEC selection. She was also the 2000 SEC Freshman of the Year. She is now in her third season with the Rajin' Cajuns.
Series History
The University of Alabama will be facing Seton Hall for the first time in school history this weekend. The Tide are 6-0 all-time against teams from the Big East. Bama and Louisiana-Lafayette have squared off twice before. The last time the two met was in 2003 when the 25th ranked Ragin' Cajuns claimed a 2-0 win over the Tide while ULL also won the first contest between the two schools, 3-0, in 1997.
Last Time Out
The Crimson Tide improved to 17-0 on Wednesday with an 8-1 victory on the road against Samford. Kelley Montalvo went 2-for-3 in the game with three RBI to lead the Tide. Ashley Holcombe also tallied two hits and a run scored while Mandy Burford scored twice. Kellie Eubanks hit her second home run of the season to lead off the fourth inning and Jordan Praytor hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the top of the seventh. Blair Potter matched a career high with seven strikeouts and allowed one run on four hits to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Tournament Champions
The University of Alabama softball team has won three tournament championships already this season. They won six games last weekend to win their third straight Crimson Classic title. They downed #22 N.C. State in the championship game, 6-0. They also went undefeated at 5-0 to claim their seventh straight BAMA BASH! Championship, defeating Toledo 5-1 in the title game. The Tide started the season at the Century-Tel Softball Classic in San Marcos, Texas with five victories, including an 11-1 stomping of Oklahoma State to take the title.
SEC Player of the Week
Lauren Parker (Port Neches, Texas) became the second straight Alabama player to garner SEC Player of the Week honors on Monday. She followed Brittany Rogers to make it back-to-back awards for the Crimson Tide. Parker set four Crimson Classic Tournament records on her way to being named Tournament MVP. She set or matched records for avg. (.643), hits (9), runs scored (6) and doubles (3). She also added a home run, six RBI and two stolen bases. A walk and two hit by pitch gave her a .667 on-base percentage while she also posted a 1.071 slugging pct. She tallied four multi-hit games and scored a run in each of the six contests.
Offensive Firepower
Alabama has hit the ball very well so far this season with a .346 team batting average. Seven players are hitting .300 or better with three of those posting an above .400 average. Lauren Parker leads the team with a .514 batting avg. (18-of-35) while Brittany Rogers is batting at a clip of .481 (25-of-52) to lead the team in hits. Jordan Praytor increased her average to .432 (19-of-44) on Wednesday. Alabama has outscored its opponents 131-12 on the season, averaging 7.7 runs per game.
On the Basepaths
The Crimson Tide have blazed their way to 56 stolen bases in 17 games this season, an average of 3.29 stolen bases per game. They have only been caught stealing five times on the year for a success rate of 91.8-percent. Mandy Burford and Brittany Rogers have led the way so far with 14 stolen bases apiece. Jordan Praytor is a perfect 8-for-8 on the year while Lauren Parker and Kelley Montalvo each have five stolen bases. The Tide have stolen 46 more bases than their opponents and came in to the week with 15 more stolen bases than any other SEC team.
Power Hour
In the first 17 games of the 2007 season, the Alabama offense has hit 19 home runs. Mandy Burford is already one shy of a career high with four home runs. She hit three in Texas with two in the Century-Tel Softball Classic championship game and added another in the BAMA BASH! Lauren Parker hit her third home run of the season last weekend. Brittany Rogers hit two inside-the-park home runs in the BAMA BASH!, with one coming from the right side and the other from the left. Six players have hit their first collegiate home run this season including Parker, Rogers, Charlotte Morgan, Michelle Menningmann, Katie Johnson and most recently Kellie Eubanks on Saturday. Five different players have two or more home runs.
Scoring Early and Often
One of the big reasons that Alabama has started 17-0 this season has been their ability to score in the first inning and put together innings of three or more runs. They have scored in the first inning of seven of their last nine games. They have had an inning with at least three runs in nine of the 17 contests. They recorded their biggest inning last weekend against Winthrop in the semifinal game with a 10-run second inning. It tied for the second highest run total in a single inning in school history. Alabama also scored nine runs in the third inning against Toledo on Feb. 17. They have scored six runs three times, five runs twice, four runs four times and three runs five times. They have outscored their opponents 27-0 in the second inning and 31-4 in the third. They have only allowed one run in the first, fourth and fifth innings.
Deadly 1-2 Punch
The combination of Brittany Rogers and Jordan Praytor as the first two hitters in the Tide lineup this season has been deadly for opponents. Rogers has reached base in her first at bat in 10 of the 17 games with seven singles. You can almost count it like a double because after reaching base her first time up she has stolen a base seven times. Praytor has reached base in eight of her 15 starts. She has five singles, one double and one triple. She also has three first inning RBI and three of the seven times she has gotten out, she advanced Rogers to third.
Who's on First
Alabama has received production throughout the lineup with each player in the 1-9 slots contributing game-in and game-out. Seven different players have recorded at least a .400 on base percentage for the season. Three of those players have reached base at least 50-percent of the time. Lauren Parker leads the team with a .581 OBP, recording 18 hits, four walks and three hit-by-pitch. Jordan Praytor has seven walks to go along with 19 hits and two hit-by-pitch for a .528 OBP while Brittany Rogers has found her way on with 25 hits and four walks for a .518 OBP.
Leadoff Success
When you look at the numbers for Alabama hitters leading off an inning, there is no wonder why the team has started 17-0 this season. As a team, Alabama is batting .495 (47-of-95) when leading off an inning. Brittany Rogers has the most at bats with 21 and has recorded 13 hits for a .619 avg. Kellie Eubanks is 7-of-12 (.583) with two home runs to start a frame. Freshman Charlotte Morgan is 6-for-11 (.545) as well for the Tide while Mandy Burford is an amazing 5-of-7 (.714). Career Highs Despite all the success she has had in her first two years at the Capstone, Jordan Praytor set new career highs with four hits and four RBI in a 14-1 victory over Winthrop on Saturday. She also went 3-for-4 the previous game against Western Kentucky. On the weekend she hit .500 (9-of-18) to increase her season avg. to .419. She moved in to a tie for third all-time at Alabama when she recorded her eighth career triple last weekend.
Miami Heat
Chrissy Owens (Miami, Fla.) is the ace of the Crimson Tide pitching staff. After finishing her sophomore season ranked second in the nation with a 0.68 ERA, she has got off to another great start as a junior in 2007. She has only allowed two runs in 47 innings. She has posted an 8-0 record in her eight starts with four shutouts. She also has 46 strikeouts compared to just 13 walks and 34 hits. She had a career-high 13 strikeouts last weekend against Indiana State.
Don't Try This At Home
Ashley Holcombe has made a big difference for the Crimson Tide behind the plate this season. She has picked off four runners at either first or second base and thrown out two out of 12 runners attempting to steal second. She has also been on the receiving end of three runners thrown out at home plate.
Tide in the Rankings
Alabama moved up to No. 3 this week in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top-25. It matches the Tide's highest ranking in school history. They were ranked third one week last season and in 2001 when they started 27-0. Bama has now been ranked in the top-10 for 20 consecutive weeks and in the top-25 for 64 straight polls.
Fast Starts
The Crimson Tide has started 17-0 in 2007, the second best start in school history. It is the third straight year and fourth overall that they won at least 10 games to start the season. The best start in school history was in 2001 when they busted out to a 27-0 record and climbed to No. 3 in the national rankings. The first loss that season was on the road against Tennessee. Last year Alabama won its first 10 games before losing at Southern Miss, 3-2. In 2005 UA began the year 13-0 before losing to Missouri in the Crimson Classic.
Home Sweet Home
Through two weekends of play, the Crimson Tide are 11-0 at the friendly confines of the Alabama Softball Complex. Now in the 11th year of the program, the Tide owns a career record of 201-37, a winning percentage of .845. Season ticket sales are at an all-time high with over 1,000 sold for the first time in program history. Last season Alabama went an incredible 30-4 at home.
Milestone Watch
Several Alabama players are close to setting personal milestones or moving up in the Crimson Tide record book. Jordan Praytor continues to etch her place in the record books. She needs one run to move in to 7th all-time, two stolen bases for 4th all-time and three RBI for 14th all-time. Brittany Rogers is one stolen base from climbing in to 3rd all-time. Dani Woods needs six RBI to give her 100 for her career and move in to 12th all-time. She is also two doubles away from 11th all-time. Chrissy Owens needs 18 strikeouts for 400 in her career.
ASA Top 50 Watch List
Brittany Rogers (Dacula, Ga.) was named to the American Softball Association Top-50 watch list for the prestigious 6th Annual USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
ESPN.com Preseason All-American
Jordan Praytor (Vancouver, Wash.) was named to the ESPN.com Preseason All-American first team. She was one of 12 players named to the first team and 24 named preseason All-Americans. She was one of three SEC players on the first team.
SEC Player of the Week
Brittany Rogers (Dacula, Ga.) was the first Alabama player this season to earn conference Player of the Week honors. She was named BAMA BASH! MVP after hitting .647 (11-of-17) with six runs scored, one double, two inside-the-park home runs, seven RBI and five stolen bases. She became the first player in UA history to hit inside-the-park home runs from both the left and right side of the plate. She tallied a hit in all five games with two games with three hits and two games with two hits. She went 2-for-3 with three RBI against Toledo on Saturday and 2-for-4 with two RBI against Radford in the first game of the tournament.
SEC Freshman of the Week
Charlotte Morgan (Moreno Valley, Calif.) was the first SEC Freshman of the Week in the 2007 season. She got off to a fast start in her college career going 4-for-8 with one run scored, one RBI and three walks for a .636 on base percentage. She also pitched in two games with a win in her first collegiate start on the mound. She tossed seven innings against Texas-San Antonio with four hits, three runs, two earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts. She also closed out the shutout win in the opener against Oklahoma State sending the Cowboys down 1-2-3 with one strikeout.
Crimson Tide on WVUA
WVUA will be carrying the Crimson Tide on 90.7 FM for home and away games throughout the 2007 season. This will be the 7th season WVUA has covered Alabama Softball. Award-winning sportscaster Nic Hoch will call the action along with others from the WVUA sports team. All games can also be heard on the internet at http://broadcastmonsters.com/Alabama/alabama.asx.
