Alabama Softball Opening Day: Osorio Pitches Perfect Game Against Coastal Carolina
By Chris Dodson
Alabama Softball kicked off the season on the campus of Coastal Carolina for the Kickin’ Chicken Classic. Alexis Osorio made history with a Perfect Game.
The season got started today for Alabama softball and got started it did. Alabama chalked up two victories over Towson and Coastal Carolina. The two games were a tale of two different stories, however, as one showed how good the Crimson Tide were on offense and the other on defense.
Game 1: Alabama vs. Towson
Things got going quickly for the Crimson Tide. Veteran pitcher Sydney Littlejohn retired the batters in order to start the game. Then, Alabama’s Bailey Hemphill, a freshman in her first at-bat, nails a three-run home run to put the Tide up 3-0.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Alabama infielder Peyton Grantham knocked another one out of the park to bring in three more. Tide got up 6-0.
The bottom of the 4th was the sealer for the Crimson Tide. Senior Chandler Dare knocked a RBI single to bring outfielder Merris Schroder to make it 7-0. Grantham got three more runners in, bringing her total RBI to 6 for the game. That was followed by a two-run home run from senior infielder and South Carolina native Marisa Runyon.
Mercy? Not yet. It didn’t stop there.
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Junior infielder Sydney Booker nailed another home run to center field to put two more in; Tide up 14-0. The final scoring play of the bottom of the 4th was made by Demi Turner, who put the exclamation mark on the game with a three-run home run. Alabama closed it out in the next inning sealing the 17-0 victory in 5 innings.
Alabama’s 5 home runs were the most in a game since April 5th, 2015 against South Carolina. Bama’s 17 runs were the most scored in a season opener for the Tide.
Senior Sydney Littlejohn notched the win, with 3 runs in 4 innings of work. Sophomore Madi Moore closed out the game in the 5th. For Towson, Megan Dejter was handed the loss with 14 earned runs and 13 hits in 3.1 innings worth of work. Megan was also responsible for 2 errors.
Game 2: Alabama vs. Coastal Carolina
The main story of this game was junior pitcher Alexis Osorio. Osorio pitched a perfect game, only the fourth in program history. It was also only the second, seven-inning perfect game in the Tide’s history.
Osorio blazed through the first 4 innings with 12 straight strikeouts, breaking the school record with 19 total. This was Osorio’s 2nd no-hitter and the program’s 30th.
Alabama started fast on offense. Leadoff hitter Elissa Brown walked to 1st, stole 2nd, got to third and made it home off a sacrifice fly from Grantham.
After a blank 2nd inning, bats got a little hot in the 3rd. Grantham then scored Brown again off RBI single to left field. Hemphill nailed a three-run home run, her second of her very early career. That made it 5-0 Crimson Tide.
Runyon got a RBI in the 4th to take it to 6-0 and that would wrap it up as Alabama started the season 2-0. Osorio got the win to go 1-0, while Chanticleer Pitcher Ashley Guillette gets the loss.
The Tide get Towson again at 10:00 am on Saturday, followed by Youngstown State after that game. The Tide will finish the tournament with another matchup against Coastal Carolina on Sunday.