Alabama vs. Arizona State Postgame Notes
5/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 31, 2009
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• Alabama improved to 54-10 overall and will face Florida on Sunday at 2 p.m. CDT. The Crimson Tide must defeat the Gators twice in order to advance to the championship series against either Washington or Georgia.
• Defending national champion Arizona State saw its season end with a 47-19 record.
• With Alabama trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Crimson Tide pinch hitter Jazlyn Lunceford belted a grand slam to left field in her first WCWS at bat. It was the freshman's third homer of the year and first grand slam.
• Lunceford's grand slam was Alabama's second of the season. Whitney Larsen hit the other March 8 versus Baylor.
• Lunceford's last hit prior to this evening came April 22 against Georgia Tech. She had only four at bats between that April 22 single and her grand slam tonight.
• Alabama is now 5-4 all time against Arizona State and is 3-1 against Pac-10 teams this season. This is the first time that the Sun Devils and Tide have met this year. In last year's WCWS, Arizona State dealt Alabama a pair of losses.
• Alabama sophomore pitcher Kelsi Dunne improved her season record to 28-4 with the win. Dunne, who is now 2-3 in WCWS play over two seasons, upped her career record to 54-9. Tonight she allowed two runs on four hits while striking out nine in the complete game effort.
• Alabama, which entered the game ranked first nationally with its 2.8 stolen bases per game, swiped four bases this evening.
• Arizona State junior first baseman Katie Crabb hit her first post-season home run of the year in the top of the fourth inning to put the Sun Devils up 2-0. It was her fourth homer of the year and gave ASU 87 on the season.
• This marks the first time since the first year of the Women's College World Series (1982) that none of the final four teams remaining have ever been a champion.
• A Women's College World Series record 8,475 fans attended Saturday's evening session, breaking the previous single-session mark of 8,323 set Friday. Through five sessions this year, attendance is at 36,519 (an average of 7,304 per session). The WCWS record for average attendance per session is 6,648, set last year.
