If there was any doubt left about whether Patrick Murphy had a team good enough to compete for National Championship this year, Alabama softball erased it with a series win over No. 1 Texas in Tuscaloosa this weekend.
The Crimson Tide bounced back from a 9-1 beatdown at the hands of the Longhorns on Thursday night that had fans questioning whether Alabama was outclassed against the defending national champs.
But Alabama did what championship teams do. They responded.
Alabama shows its a championship contender with series win over Texas
The Tide tied the series up on Friday with an emphatic 11-4 win, scoring 11 unanswered runs to finish the game after Texas jumped out to a 4-0 lead. A bases-clearing three-run double by Brooke Wells and a two-run homerun by Ambrey Taylor highlighted the offensive fireworks.
Freshman Vic Moten showed her moxie by shaking off a rough 1st inning, getting pulled, and then re-entering the game and shutting down the Longhorns over the last 4.5 innings.
And in Saturday's rubber match, Moten and ace Jocelyn Briski combined to hold a potent Texas offense to just four runs once again.
After falling behind 1-0 in the 1st inning, the Crimson Tide scored the next four runs. Jena Young hit a 3-run homer in the 2nd inning to put the Crimson Tide ahead with a lead they would never relinquish. Alexis Pupilo added an RBI double to put Alabama ahead 4-1.
A Texas 2-run homer in the 4th cut Alabama's lead to just one, but patience in the batter's box pushed the Tide's lead to four runs in the bottom of the inning. Pupilo and Ana Roman worked back-to-back bases-loaded walks, and then a Texas wild pitch allowed the Crimson Tide to plate another run.
Briski allowed a solo homer in the 6th, but otherwise totally shut the Texas offense down as Alabama earned a 7-4 win to grab the series over the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
Alabama stated its case as a legitimate championship contender this weekend. The win moves it to 35-3 on the season and now in a 2nd-place tie with Texas in the SEC standings, two games behind the likely new No. 1 Oklahoma.
Alabama won't face Oklahoma in the regular season, but might see them in the SEC Tournament, and/or again in Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series.
With Briski and Moten providing a heck of a 1-2 punch in the rotation, and Alabama's bats showing a renewed pop, this team is good enough to make a deep run and compete for the program's second National Title.