Alabama
Jacksonville State
Alabama Softball Defeats Jacksonville State, 10-3, Wednesday
3/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Alabama softball won its 15th-straight game Wednesday night, defeating Jacksonville State, 10-3, in front of a packed house at University Field.
All nine of Alabama's (16-1) starting hitters would earn at least one hit, led by Andrea Hawkins who went 4-4 out of the nine hole, the most hits for any Tide player in a game so far this season. She also scored twice along with two-run efforts by Haylie McCleney and Demi Turner, while Leona Lafaele and Sydney Booker each tallied two RBIs. Sydney Littlejohn's (6-1) streak without allowing an earned run ended at 26.2 innings, allowing three runs on two home runs, the first long balls given up for her this season. She was otherwise efficient in the win however, throwing 5.2 innings with four strikeouts and no walks. Alabama used all three pitchers in the win, with Alexis Osorio earning her third save of the year with 1.1 shutout innings in relief.
Jacksonville State (7-8) would slug a pair of home runs but that accounted for the entire offense, as the remaining six baserunners were all left on base. Starter Kirsten Titus (1-2) took the loss after 3.0 innings with three earned runs allowed.
Reagan Dykes put the Tide on the board in the top of the second, blasting a solo homer into left-center to make it 1-0. With a pair in scoring position in the top of the third, Booker pulled a single through the left side to score one and put two in scoring position after advancing to second on the throw. A groundout stranded the pair in scoring position with the Tide leading 2-0. JSU's Taylor Sloan erased the shutout in the bottom of the third with a two-out solo home run to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
Marisa Runyon drew a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth and, after Rachel Bobo entered to pinch run, JSU made a call to the bullpen as Faith Sims entered the game to pitch for the Gamecocks. Later with the bases loaded and one out, Turner and Peyton Grantham would draw back-to-back walks to push two across before Lafaele ripped a hard-hit single down the left-field line, adding two more to stretch the lead to 6-1. That ended Sims' outing in the circle as Casey Akenberger entered to pitch for JSU and she would get the Gamecocks out of the inning with a strikeout and groundout.
The score remained the same until JSU's Whitney Gillespie hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to cut Alabama's lead to three, 6-3. A two-out single later in the inning would end Littlejohn's outing as Madi Moore entered in the save situation. A hit-by-pitch and base hit loaded the bases and forced yet another pitching change as Osorio entered to try and get out of the jam. She needed just three pitches to strike out Sloan and strand the bases loaded.
Alabama added some cushion with four insurance runs in the top of the seventh but Osorio wouldn't need it in the bottom half, retiring the side in order for her third save of the season and the 10-3 win.
Next up, Alabama returns home and hosts the Easton Crimson Classic starting on Friday, March 4. The Tide welcome North Dakota State, DePaul and Louisiana-Monroe.
