Softball Prepares for Midweek Matchup Against UAB
3/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Tide travels down Interstate 20/59 from Tuscaloosa for a matchup with the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday evening before returning home for its opening Southeastern Conference series, a clash with the highly-ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday and Sunday.
In its last outing at the University of Washington Classic, UA improved to 17-1, including with wins over Portland State and Nevada before suffering its first loss of the year to Washington. The Tide, ranked No. 1 in both major polls last week, is now No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA rankings and No. 3 by ESPN.com/Softball USA.
The UAB Blazers enter this Thursday’s matchup with a 13-10 overall record. The Blazers enter the contest with a team batting average of .240 while holding opponents to a .230 mark at the plate. Shortstop Holly Krzan leads UAB with a .385 batting average and has posted team-leading totals for hits (25), doubles (8), home runs (3), runs batted in (15), total bases (42) and runs scored (20).
Alabama owns a 3-0 all-time record against UAB with the most recent contest taking place on February 6, 2005, a 2-1 Alabama victory at the Bama Bash! in Tuscaloosa. Alabama also defeated the Blazers by a 8-0 count earlier in that tournament. The first meeting in softball between UA and UAB took place on Feb. 23, 2000, a 7-1 Alabama victory in Tuscaloosa.
After the loss at Washington, Alabama fell to second in the USA Today/NFCA rankings with a 17-1 record, despite having more first-place votes (10) than top-ranked Arizona State (9). The Tide now ranks third in the ESPN.com/Softball USA rankings behind ASU and UCLA. Following its perfect 15-0 start and three dominating performances at its first three tournaments, the Tide held on to the No. 1 ranking in both of softball’s national polls (ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA) on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The Tide, ranked fourth in the preseason and No. 2 in the first week’s poll, earned the top spot for the second time in program history on Feb. 19.
Alabama’s senior Jordan Praytor is one of thirty of the nation’s best college softball players who also excel in the classroom and make an impact in their respective communities to have been selected as the 2008 candidates in the softball division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award, presented to NCAA Division I student-athletes each year in eight sports, focuses on the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition.
Alabama returns home for three weekend games against nationally-ranked Tennessee in Tuscaloosa on Saturday-Sunday, March 8-9. The Tide and the Volunteers are the SEC’s top-ranked teams entering the series. Games are slated for Saturday, March 8, at 1 p.m., with a doubleheader and for Sunday, March 9, beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the Alabama Softball Complex.
