Alabama Softball Sweeps Again As Offense Improves, SEC Play Begins Next Weekend
By Chris Dodson
Alabama Softball played host to Drake, Jacksonville, and Stanford this weekend in the Easton Crimson Classic and won all five games. The struggling offense showed signs of life this weekend. Alabama enters SEC play next weekend.
Alabama improved to 19-2 on the early season with five wins in their third and final tournament of the season. The entire pitching rotation continued to show why they are the best. Alexis Osorio (9-1), Sydney Littlejohn (7-0) and Madi Moore (3-1) each contributed to the two no-hitter games against Jacksonville and Drake. Moore, who has struggled in the circle, showed signs of improvement in her sophomore season.
It was the Alabama offense that surprised this weekend, hopefully showing signs of future promise.
Highly Offensive Weekend
The 2017 Alabama Softball season has been marred with offensive issues. Despite these issues, Alabama’s bats are beginning to wake up.
Against Jacksonville Friday, Alabama scored in each of the four innings played. The fourth inning was big with six runs. Merris Schroder’s had a home run, and Mari Cranek got her first two RBIs of the season. Against Drake Saturday, the Tide scored eighth in the third inning. Carrigan Fain had a three-run homer. Both games ended in the fifth under run-rule at 10-0.
Sunday’s game also highlighted the offense. Freshman Gabby Callaway hit her first career home run in the sixth to bring in three runs. Reagan Dykes got two more in the seventh with a homer to left center. The final score was 7-0.
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Does this show promise that Alabama’s bats are finally warming up? One thing that needs to be improved is the LOB statistic. Alabama has left 157 on base this season, about a base runner per inning played. Tide opponents have only stranded 77. Alabama has missed many opportunities and left many runs off the scoreboard. This has to improve as Alabama enters SEC play.
SEC Preview
Alabama softball will start their SEC season next weekend at home. Alabama is currently ranked 9th in the.
http://ESPN.com/USATodaySoftballRankings
Alabama only faces one of the current top-five ranked teams in the regular season: Auburn. That won’t be until May.
Alabama’s home weekends include Arkansas, South Carolina, LSU, and Auburn. On the road, Alabama gets Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee and Ole Miss.
There would be more confidence in Alabama’s team getting through SEC season pretty well if it were not for the results from the Louisiana-Lafayette weekend. That weekend saw Alabama generated only five runs in three games. Alabama softball allowed 11 runs in the second game and had a 7-0 shutout loss to close the series. Lafayette is now ranked 19th.
Can Alabama step up against ranked opponents and dominate SEC play? it is possible. The pitching is great. Alabama softball can have a great season if the Tide offense continues to improve.
Next Up: Alabama will have two midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday against Loyola-Chicago and Valparaiso. Both games are at 6:00 PM CT and can be seen on SEC Network+.
Next: Alabama Basketball: Tide Beats Itself In Knoxville
Alabama opens the SEC season with a three-game home series with Arkansas Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The games are at 6:30 PM, 5:00 PM and 1:30 PM respectively. They can all be seen on SEC Network+, with Saturday’s game being broadcast on the SEC Network. Let us know on Facebook how you expect Alabama softball will perform in SEC play.