No. 2 Softball Heads to Oxford to Play Mississippi
3/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 20, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The No. 2 ranked Alabama softball team (23-4, 3-2 SEC) will look to bounce back from its midweek set back when it heads to Oxford, Miss. to play a three game weekend series against the University of Mississippi (12-13, 1-7 SEC). The two teams will begin play on Saturday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. in the first of two games on the day. Alabama will then conclude the series on Sunday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m. All three games will be played at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
"We are looking to get back to our winning ways," head coach Patrick Murphy said. "We lost in two one-run games and I think that is how the whole SEC will be. We have to get better and get more consistency from everybody."
Last Time Out
Alabama suffered a sweep to No. 20 ranked LSU to open its road portion of league play. The Crimson Tide dropped the first game 3-2 and then fell in the nightcap 6-5. Senior Brittany Rogers batted 5-for-7 in the twin-bill and was a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts. Junior Charlotte Morgan extended her hitting streak to 13 games and Whitney Larsen and Jazlyn Lunceford both went deep on the day. The sweep by a conference opponent was the first since No. 2 Tennessee beat Alabama in Knoxville on March 6, 2007.
Who to Watch
Alabama senior All-American Brittany Rogers has been red hot as of late. In her last 10 games Rogers is batting .615 (16-for-26) with nine runs and a stellar .655 on base percentage. The Dacula, Ga. native has also been quite the thief on the base paths, swiping 11 in 13 chances over that span. In the five conference games Rogers leads the team with a .538 average (7-for-13), six stolen bases and a .600 on base percentage. Overall Rogers is batting .500 (33-for-66) with 22 runs and 25 stolen bases in 27 attempts.
Scouting the Competition
Mississippi: The Rebels enter the weekend with a 12-13 overall record and a 1-7 conference mark. Mississippi started its conference campaign with seven straight losses before earning its first win in its last time out against South Carolina by the score of 12-8. The Rebels have dropped SEC series to Florida and Auburn. As a team the Rebels are batting .246 and are pitching at a 2.50 clip. Opponents are hitting .242 and sport a 2.62 ERA. Mississippi has out-scored its opposition 98-94 overall but have been out-scored during league action 74-55. Individually the Rebels are led at the plate by Corrine Doornberg and her .302 batting average. Doornberg is the only Rebel player to sport and average over .300. Lauren Grill has provided the punch with a team-leading six home runs and 20 RBI while adding a .274 batting average. In the circle Becky Nye paces the squad with a 1.95 ERA and an 8-8 record in 20 appearances and 13 starts. Nye has struck out 67 in 111.1 innings pitched. Lindsey Perry has made 10 starts and is 3-5 overall with a 4.23 ERA. Last season Mississippi finished 26-28 overall and 9-19 in SEC action.
Series History
The weekend series will mark the 42-44th time the two programs square off. Alabama holds an impressive 39-2 advantage over Mississippi. Last season the two teams met three teams in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide earning the sweep. Alabama won by the scores of 8-6, 8-0 and 8-0. In that series Ashley Holcombe batted .500 with a home run and three RBI. Charlotte Morgan batted .429 with a home run and four RBI. Kelsi Dunne went 2-0 without allowing a run and striking out 22 in 10.2 innings pitched. The last time Alabama fell to Mississippi was on April 2, 2005 by the score of 3-0.
Morgan Streaking
Alabama junior Charlotte Morgan has put together a career-best 13-game hitting streak. The streak started against Hawaii at the Cathedral City Classic on Feb. 21. Over the span the Moreno Valley, Calif. native is hitting .400 (16-for-40) with three home runs and 11 RBI. Morgan is slugging .675 and she has an on base percentage of .467. The All-American has three multi-hit games over that span.
SEC Rankings
The Alabama pitching staff ranks second in the SEC in all games in ERA with a mark of 1.35. Brittany Rogers ranks third on the circuit in hitting with a .500 batting average. Rogers also checks in at second in the league in stolen bases with 25. Jennifer Fenton follows in fourth with a perfect 17-17 in swipes. Kelsi Dunne ranks second in ERA with a 0.46 mark.
Rogers a Nominated for McWhorter Scholarship
Alabama senior Brittany Rogers has been nominated by the University of Alabama for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship. The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship has been presented by the Southeastern Conference since 1986 to the league's top male and female scholar-athletes. The Southeastern Conference will name the 2009 recipients of the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship on April 6 in conjunction with National Student-Athlete Day. Rogers, a senior from Dacula, Ga., has earned a 3.877 grade point average, with a major in Elementary Education. She has been a member of the Dean's List for five semesters, a member of the President's List for three semesters and a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Next Time Out
Alabama will return home for a midweek contest against nearby Samford before heading to Florida for the highly anticipated matchup with the Gators. The Crimson Tide will play the Bulldogs on Wednesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the UA Softball Complex before heading to Gainesville, Fla. to start a three game set on Saturday, March 28.
