From the start of the regular season, there was a feeling that this 2026 Alabama Softball team was good enough to win it all in Oklahoma City. It was an amazing regular season, a great run in the SEC Tournament, and entering Monday this team only needed one win to advance to the Championship series to face defending champion Texas.
Unfortunately, Texas Tech outplayed the Tide two games on Monday night, bringing the incredible season to an earlier-than-expected ending. Honestly, this has been my favorite Bama team from any sport for a while, so this loss is going to hurt longer than most. I would have loved to see Jocelyn Briski end her amazing season with a national championship.
Sadly, after Texas Tech won the first game of the night with a walk-off shot in the bottom of the seventh inning, you could immediately feel that the Red Raiders were going to win game two as well.
Unfortunately, Game two was the NiJaree Canady show as she only allowed 2 hits in a complete game effort. Despite Texas Tech getting 10 hits, they were only able to put up two runs, so overall, it was a terrible time for the Tide bats to go cold. As good as Briski was all season, it was a rough Monday night for her, and even then, there were plenty of chances for Alabama to win.
Many will point to Audrey Vandagriff's whiff at the wall, which allowed the Red Raiders to up two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning of game one, as the moment when the tide really changed. Despite that momentum changer, Jena Young's bomb at the top of the seventh tied the game, and it seemed all was well with the world again, at least for a couple of moments. Unfortunately, the magic ran out, and the amazing season is done. The program is in a good spot and back to the level that is expected in Tuscaloosa. For this season to end in the same fashion as the 2021 season is going to hurt for a while, but that is the beauty of college softball, where emotions are constantly high.
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