Alabama
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Mississippi State
Alabama Softball Hits the Road for Three-Game Series at Mississippi State
3/16/2017 2:29:00 PM | Softball
THIS WEEKEND
No. 11/8 Alabama (26-2, 3-0 SEC)
Mississippi State (21-5, 1-2 SEC)
Starkville, Miss. – Nusz Park
- Friday, March 17 – 6 p.m. CT
- Saturday, March 18 – 6 p.m. CT
- Sunday, March 19, 2 p.m. CT
FOLLOWING THE TIDE
Video: SEC Network+ (Online Only)
Radio: 93.3 FM (praise933.com)
Live Stats: rolltide.com
Twitter: @AlabamaSB
SCOUTING NO. 11/8 ALABAMA (26-2, 3-0 SEC)
- Alabama improved its current winning streak to 19 games with a pair of midweek wins at Rhoads Stadium, defeating Winthrop, 1-0, and Georgia Southern, 9-0.
- Wednesday's doubleheader wrapped up a 12-game home stand for the Tide, as seven of its next 11 games will be played away from Rhoads Stadium. Alabama is 19-0 at home this season and 7-2 in the remaining road and neutral-site contests.
- The two shutouts on Wednesday give Alabama 18 shutouts so far this season. The Tide has held its opponents to three or fewer runs in 25 of its 28 games this season.
- Alabama moved up one spot to No. 8 in the week five ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings while remaining at No. 11 for the third-straight week in the USA Today/NFCA poll.
- Alexis Osorio earned a slew of accolades following a 4-0 week in the circle, named SEC Pitcher of the Week, NFCA Pitcher of the Week and USA Softball Player of the Week.
THE OPPONENT
Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Conference: Southeastern
- 2017 Record: 21-5 (1-2 SEC)
- Head Coach: Vann Stuedeman (5th Season)
- Starters Returning/Lost: 6/2
- Newcomers: 7
Mississippi State Stat Leaders:
- Batting Avg. - Bevia Robinson - .417
- Hits - Bevia Robinson - 30
- Home Runs - Olivia Golden - 4
- Wins - Alexis Silkwood - 9
- ERA - Alexis Silkwood - 0.78
- Strikeouts - Alexis Silkwood – 60
ALL-TIME VS. THE OPPONENT
57-10 vs. Mississippi State
- Current Streak: Alabama 4
- First Meeting: April 18, 1997 - W, 4-2 - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Last Meeting: May 11, 2016 - W, 7-5 - Starkville, Miss. (SEC Tournament)
LAST TIME OUT: ALABAMA WINS TWO IN MIDWEEK DOUBLEHEADER
- Alabama 1, Winthrop 0: The two teams were locked in a pitcher's duel for the majority of the game before the Tide came through in the bottom of the seventh to edge out the Eagles, 1-0. After hitting a walk-off home run on Sunday against Arkansas, Dare came through again Wednesday against Winthrop with a timely bases-loaded RBI single to score the winning run. Sydney Littlejohn (9-0) fanned a career-best 14 batters in the complete-game shutout, allowing four hits with just one walk.
- Alabama 9, Georgia Southern 0 (5 Inn.): Runs came in bunches in the Tide's second game of the day, scoring at least two in each of the four innings they came to the plate while Osorio (14-1) and Moore combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter, the fourth of the season for Alabama and the 33rd in program history. Demi Turner had three of the team's seven RBIs from the leadoff position while Sydney Booker added two more from the eight spot with a fourth-inning double.
OSORIO BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD FOR SCORELESS INNINGS STREAK
Alexis Osorio has thrown 38-consecutive innings without allowing a run, which passes Stephanie VanBrakle for the longest streak in program history. It is just the fifth time a Tide pitcher has posted a streak of at least 30-straight scoreless innings:
Longest Scoreless Innings Streaks in UA History
- 38 - Alexis Osorio, 2017
- 37 - Stephanie VanBrakle, 2006
- 31 - Charlotte Morgan, 2009
- 30 - Kelsi Dunne, 2009
- 30 - Erin Wright, 2001
OSORIOÂ EARNS SEC AND NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS
A successful week in the circle garnered junior pitcher Alexis Osorio plenty of attention at both the conference and national level. On Tuesday, she was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week, NFCA Pitcher of the Week and USA Softball Player of the Week.
- Osorio went 4-0 last week, including three wins in the conference-opening series against No. 24 Arkansas. She threw 19.2 shutout innings to push her current scoreless innings streak to a career-best 35 innings. She struck out 39 batters, an average of 1.98 per inning, with just three hits and five walks. She totaled 18 strikeouts in last Tuesday's win over Loyola Chicago, already her third game this season with at least 18 strikeouts. There are only two other 18-strikeout games in program history and only one other SEC pitcher has earned 18 strikeouts in a game since 2015.
- The SEC weekly award is the fourth of Osorio's career and already her third this season. She is the first Alabama pitcher to earn the award three times in a season since Jaclyn Traina in 2012. Overall, Alabama has won SEC Pitcher of the Week 37 times in program history.
- It is the first national weekly award for Osorio from either the NFCA or USA Softball and the fifth time a Crimson Tide player has won both awards in the same week.
- Teammate Sydney Littlejohn was the last Tide player to earn NFCA Pitcher of the Week honors, doing so last season after two wins against No. 1-ranked Florida, while Jaclyn Traina was the last to earn USA Softball's weekly award, doing so in 2014 after another matchup with the Gators.
- This is Alabama's sixth NFCA weekly award in program history and the ninth from USA Softball.
PATRICK MURPHY APPROACHING 1,000 CAREER WINS
Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy is just five wins shy of his 1,000th career win, owning a career record of 995-277 (.782). This includes a 28-20 record as the interim head coach at Northwest Missouri State in 1995 and a 967-257 (.790) mark as the skipper of the Crimson Tide, a position he has held since 1999.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT STREAKS
- Alabama has won 19-straight games heading into this weekend, its longest winning streak of the season. It is the longest winning streak since the Tide went 22-0 to begin the 2013 season.
- Merris Schroder broke her 18-game hit streak with an 0-2 day against Winthrop on Wednesday. It was the longest streak for any player this season and the longest for any Tide player since Kayla Braud hit in 28-straight games in 2011. Schroder's 18-game streak is the sixth-longest in program history, one shy of tying Brittany Rogers' streak of 19 in 2008. Kelly Kretschman holds the school and SEC record at 35, set in 1998.
- Bailey Hemphill's reached base streak of 22 games ended on March 7, tying her for the second-longest reached base streak by a freshman in program history. Cassie-Reilly Boccia (2009) and Jackie Wilkins (2002) each reached base safely in 22-straight games during their freshman seasons, but all three are far behind record-holder Kelly Kretschman, who reached base safely in a whopping 49-straight games as a freshman in 1998.
- Alabama pitchers Alexis Osorio and Sydney Littlejohn are currently riding career-best winning streaks, with Osorio at 10 and Littlejohn at nine.
CAREER RECORD WATCH
A number of Crimson Tide players are moving up the career school records so far in the 2017 season.
- Junior Alexis Osorio moved into first place with a career 10.22 strikeout-per-game average, surpassing previous record-holder Kelsi Dunne (2008-11) at 9.82. Osorio's 668 career strikeouts rank fifth all-time with fourth-place Jaclyn Traina's (2001-14) 976 career strikeouts as the next milestone.
- Senior Sydney Littlejohn is fifth all-time with a 1.74 career ERA and seventh with a .208 opposing batting average. Osorio is right behind Littlejohn in ERA at seventh (1.82) and is tied for first (.165) in opposing batting average.
- Junior Demi Turner is ranked fifth all-time with a .408 career batting average. She has 151 hits in 370 at-bats, making her one of five on the list with a career average over .400. Former teammate Haylie McCleney (2013-16) holds the record at .447.
- Senior Chandler Dare is sixth in stolen base percentage (.885), just six points behind fifth-place Whitney Larsen (2008-11) at .891. Dare is 9-10 in stolen bases so far this season. She also cracked the top 10 in batting average, currently ninth at .365 just three points shy of eighth-place Lauren Parker (2007-09) at .368.
- Senior Marisa Runyon is seventh all-time with a .604 career slugging percentage and is ninth with 35 home runs. Her 150 career RBIs put her 12 shy of cracking the top 10.
UP NEXT
Next weekend, Alabama returns home for a three-game series against South Carolina (19-7, 1-2 SEC), beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, March 24.
- Friday, March 24 vs. South Carolina - 6:30 p.m. CT - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Saturday, March 25 vs. South Carolina - 2 p.m. CT - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Sunday, March 26 vs. South Carolina - 1:30 p.m. CT - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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