Alabama Softball Sweeps Shorter to Close Fall Season
10/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team swept Shorter University to close out its fall season, winning game one by a score of 6-1 while taking game two by a score of 8-6 Sunday afternoon at Rhoads Stadium.
"We had great support from our fans over the past three weekends and today might be one of our biggest crowds ever for fall ball," UA head coach Patrick Murphy said. "Sydney Littlejohn did a good job today in both games. She pitched a really good one in the first game and then kept us in the game during the second."
Alabama was dominant in game one, winning 6-1 with junior pitcher Sydney Littlejohn picking up the win on a complete game. Game two went back in forth with Shorter striking first with a run in the first inning. The Tide came back strong in the bottom of the first with three runs. Shorter scored again in the top of the second and took a 4-3 lead with two runs in the top of the third and bolstered that lead to 6-3 in the top of the fourth. Alabama tied things up with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth.
After holding Shorter scoreless in the top of the fifth, sophomore Peyton Grantham hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Tide ahead for good. After going the distance to win game one, Little Johns came on in relief to notch her second win of the day.
"Every time we put in a relief pitcher, I say that the goal of the relief pitcher is to keep the score the same when they entered and Sydney did that," Murphy said. "We had some really good at bats from a lot of different people - Mari Cranek, Peyton Grantham, Carrigan Fain and up and down the line up. They all shared the responsibility of that comeback."
Alabama went 7-1 through the fall season including today's sweep.
"I thought that we grew a lot from the first double header at Middle Tennessee to today," Murphy said. "We still have a long way to go. I would rather have things to work on than be perfect right now. We are far, far from perfect. So, we have about three weeks left of weights, individuals and some conditioning. I think that they have a lot of potential."
The doubleheader also served as the culmination of an alumni weekend for the Crimson Tide, which is celebrating its 20th season as varsity program this year.
"This weekend was incredible," Murphy said. "People from all over the country came back. It's a really neat feeling to celebrate 20 years with them. A lot of family members from the very first team to last year's team were here. Up and down the 20 years, they were represented well. It was a fun weekend for everybody."
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