Softball Sweeps South Carolina with 6-1 Sunday Win

Sunday, March 27

Columbia, S.C.

12 p.m. CT

Alabama

28-4, 6-3

South Carolina

18-13, 2-7

Alabama

South Carolina

Softball Sweeps South Carolina with 6-1 Sunday Win

3/27/2022 3:34:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

The Crimson Tide earned a season-high 13 hits, Montana Fouts struck out a career-best 16

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alabama softball was dominant on both sides of the ball Sunday, completing the series sweep over South Carolina with a 6-1 win.

Alabama (28-4, 6-3 SEC) scored three quick runs in the top of the first on a trio of RBI singles, forcing South Carolina (18-13, 2-7 SEC) to turn to its bullpen early. Kat Grill tacked on another run with an RBI single in the fourth to make it 4-0. The Gamecocks went 10-up, 10-down before getting their first baserunner with a one-out walk in the fourth and the next batter followed with a single up the middle to end the no-hit bid. A bases-loaded walk three batters later plated a run for South Carolina to erase the shutout but that was all the damage done as a strikeout stranded the bases loaded to end the inning.

A hard-hit RBI single off the wall in left field from Bailey Dowling in the top of the fifth extended Alabama's lead to 5-1 and an RBI double from Ally Shipman in the next inning made it 6-1. That was all Montana Fouts (15-1) and the Tide defense needed, keeping the Gamecocks out of the run column for the remainder of the game.

Kaylee Tow continued her hot weekend at the plate with a season-high three hits, including a first-inning RBI single. She had two or more hits in all three games this weekend, finishing at 7-for-11 (.636) with five RBIs over the series. The Tide also saw multi-hit games from Ally Shipman, Jenna Johnson and Bailey Dowling, with Shipman now tied for the team lead with 11 multi-hit games this season. Fouts allowed just one run on two hits, tying her career high with 16 strikeouts.

Highlights

Alabama improves to 46-20 all-time vs. South Carolina, including a 23-11 mark in Columbia
The Tide is 22-3 this season when scoring first and 13-1 when scoring in the first inning
Alabama is outscoring opponents 40-5 in the first inning this season
The 13 hits tied the team's season high, previously reaching the mark against UAB (March 2) and Miami Ohio (March 6)
Tow tallied a season-high three hits Sunday, her 14th career game with 3+ hits
Tow's three multi-hit games this weekend pushes her season total to five
The multi-hit game is Ally Shipman's 11th of the season, which is tied for the team lead, and also Jenna Johnson's eighth and Bailey Dowling's third
Ashley Prange extended her hitting streak to a career-best nine games, tying the mark she set in 2019 as a freshman at Ohio State
Fouts tied her career high with 16 strikeouts, her fourth career 16 K performance
Fouts now has eight double-digit strikeout performances this season and 36 over her career

Scoring Summary

T1 | Kaylee Tow dropped an RBI single into right field, driving in Ashley Prange (1-0, 1 Out)
T1 | Bailey Dowling hit an RBI single to center field (2-0, 1 Out)
T1 | Jenna Johnson beat out an infield single, driving in a run from third (3-0, 1 Out)
T4 | Kat Grill drove in Jenna Johnson from second with a chopper up the middle (4-0, 2 Out)
B4 | South Carolina erased the shutout with a bases-loaded walk (4-1, 2 Out)
T5 | Bailey Dowling smacked a hard single off the wall with the bases loaded (5-1, 0 Out)
T6 | Ally Shipman dropped an RBI double in the left field gap (6-1, 2 Out)

Up Next: Alabama State/Jacksonville State

Tuesday, March 29 vs. Alabama State – Tuscaloosa, Ala. – 6 p.m. CT
Wednesday, March 30 vs. Jacksonville State (Sand Mountain Showdown) – Albertville, Ala. – 6 p.m. CT

For the latest information on the team, follow @AlabamaSB on Twitter, BamaSB on Instagram and Alabama Softball on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.