Softball to Open Home Portion of SEC Slate
3/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 19, 2010
| Games 27-29 | No. 5/8 Alabama (19-7, 3-2 SEC) vs. South Carolina (9-16, 0-7 SEC) | |
| Date | Saturday, March 20 1:00 p.m. CDT (DH) Sunday, March 21 1:00 p.m. CDT |
| Location | Tuscaloosa, Ala. | Alabama Softball Complex (3,395) |
| Tickets | Limited General Admission Available |
| Television | Sunday - Fox Sports Net (Dave Neal and Cheri Kempf) |
| Radio | WVUA-FM (90.7) (Lake Koelling and Chad Haynie) | |
| Live Stats | | | |
| Streaming Video | TideTV (Gm 1) | TideTV (Gm 2) | ESPN360.com (Gm 3) |
| Game Notes | Alabama Notes  | South Carolina Notes |
| All-Time Series | Alabama leads, 23-16 |
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team will host its first Southeastern Conference series this weekend when its welcomes South Carolina to the Alabama Softball Complex. The two SEC foes will play a three-game set and will begin with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m. The Sunday matinee will be aired on Fox Sports South with Dave Neal and Cheri Kempf calling the action at 1:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT After one of its longest road trips of the season the Alabama softball team returned home for a single night game against Florida International. The Crimson Tide earned a 2-1, come-from-behind victory on the strength of an Amanda Locke home run and heads-up base running by Jennifer Fenton. Kelsi Dunne earned her ninth victory on the season by tossing 2 2/3 innings of perfect relief. Dunne and Tide starter Lauren Sewell combined to strike out 13.
WHO TO WATCH Alabama senior All-American Charlotte Morgan has begun to heat up. Over the course of the last six games Morgan is batting .375 (6-for-16) with four home runs and 10 RBI. The Moreno Valley, Calif., native has also smacked two doubles, scored four runs and sports a 1.250 slugging percentage. Morgan batted .667 (4-for-6) with three home runs, a double and six RBI. She slugged 2.333 in the twin-bill at Kentucky on Tuesday.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION The South Carolina softball team enters Tuscaloosa with a 9-16 overall record and a 0-7 SEC mark. The Gamecocks are coming off a doubleheader defeat to Arkansas during the week. USC fell in the opener 8-5 and then dropped the night-cap, 3-2. Overall Laura Mendes paces South Carolina with a .370 batting average and 17 RBI. Lindsay Walker is the only member of the Gamecocks to have recorded a home run as she enters the weekend with two. Kelsey Goodwin and Ashley Chastain have pitched most of the innings in the circle. Goodwin is 0-8 with a 2.64 ERA and has struck out 40 in 53 innings. Chastain is 4-5 with a 3.73 ERA and has fanned 19 in 45 innings. Audrey Broyles leads USC with a 0.99 ERA and is 3-3 with 45 Ks in 42 1/3 innings pitched. South Carolina finished 21-24 overall and 6-21 in SEC play in 2009.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTH CAROLINA This weekend the two programs will meet for the 39-41st time as Alabama holds a 23-16 all-time advantage. Last season the Gamecocks got the better of the Tide in Columbia as they earned the series victory by taking two-of-three. USC opened the series with a 3-2 win before UA earned a 7-0 victory. In the rubber game the Gamecocks sealed the series win with a 6-5 victory. The last time the Gamecocks defeated the Tide in Tuscaloosa was in the series opener on April 17, 2004, by the score of 3-1.
DUNNE IN RELIEF A first-team All-American in 2009, Alabama junior Kelsi Dunne is accustomed to getting the start and getting the job done. In a few cases this season the right-hander has been called upon out of the bullpen to give the Tide a lift in the circle and she has done exactly that. In relief Dunne is a perfect 3-0 with one save. She has pitched 13 2/3 innings and has allowed just two hits and sports a perfect ERA while striking out 26 and only walking two. Dunne has not allowed a hit in three different outings out of the pen and has been perfect on two occasions.
TIDE IN THE SEC On the season Alabama has a number of players that sit atop the statistics in the conference. Cassie Reilly-Boccia leads the league in all games played with a .584 on base percentage. Her 25 walks also lead the league. Newcomer Kayla Braud ranks fifth in batting average with a .442 mark and also ranks eighth in stolen bases with 12 thefts while Jennifer Fenton ranks fourth with 16. Braud also is seventh in hits (34) and 10th in runs scored (23). Charlotte Morgan ranks tied for seventh in home runs with seven. In the circle, junior Kelsi Dunne ranks third in strikeouts with 127 and is second in the conference in punchouts looking with 45. Her nine wins ranks tied for fifth overall.
MURPHY NEARING WIN NO. 600 AT ALABAMA Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy is nearing his 600th career win as head coach of the Crimson Tide softball team as he sits at 598 entering the series against South Carolina. Murphy earned the 600th victory of his career in a 2-1 win over Kentucky on May 8, 2009, in the SEC Tournament semifinals last season. However that mark included the 28 victories Murphy earned as interim head coach of the Northwest Missouri State Bobcats in 1995. Murphy will be the first softball coach in the SEC to reach 600 wins at an SEC school since the conference began participation in the sport in 1997. The Alabama skipper is the winningest active coach in the SEC. Including this season no current coach in the SEC has more wins over the last 10 seasons than Murphy.
ALABAMA TO PLAY 900TH GAME ON SATURDAY The University of Alabama softball program has come a long way since its humble beginnings 14 years ago. In just over a decade the program has went from playing in Tuscaloosa's Sokol Park to playing in the largest collegiate softball stadium in the nation at the Alabama Softball Complex. The Crimson Tide has made more Women's College World Series appearances in the past 10 years than any other program outside the Pac-10. The program which has reached so many milestones since its start in 1997 will play game number 900 in Saturday's second game against South Carolina.
FENTON HEATS UP After hitting .063 in the first nine games of the season, sophomore Jennifer Fenton's bat has come alive. Fenton now has the highest batting average on the team through the last 17 games, hitting an impressive .413, including two doubles and three home runs. She has also swiped 11 bags and scored 12 runs. Stealing a page from MLB manager Tony LaRussa, Alabama skipper Patrick Murphy has began using Fenton in the nine-hole, essentially giving the Tide two leadoff hitters back-to-back throughout the game with Fenton and Kayla Braud batting first. Braud and Fenton lead the team in batting average over the past 16 games and have ignited several scoring rallies over the past three weeks.
NEXT TIME OUT Alabama will remain at home and will host a midweek contest against in-state foe UAB. The Tide welcomes the Blazers on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m. Alabama will then face off against softball rival Florida in a three-game weekend series, beginning on Saturday, March 27 at 1:00 p.m.
