Patrick Murphy gambled to open the Regional by resting both Jocelyn Briski and Vic Moten, which allowed a fresh Briski to face off against Belmont's Maya Johnson, the nation's leader in ERA, in a pivotal matchup in the Tuscaloosa Regional on Saturday afternoon.
In the highly anticipated matchup, it was Briski who ruled the day.
Alabama's ace took a perfect game into the 6th inning before allowing her only hit of the day. She issued a walk in the 7th to along with an error, but otherwise it was total domination for Briski against the Belmont lineup.
Briski threw a complete game, allowing just the one hit and one walk while striking out seven. Alabama's offense didn't do much against Johnson, but it put a crooked number on the board in the 1st inning, and that was more than enough for Briski with her best stuff.
Alabama's offense did enough in one inning to get the better of Maya Johnson
Once the Regional draws were announced, Johnson wasted little time taking a shot at the No. 1 Crimson Tide.
"We wouldn't be the first mid-major to beat Alabama this year," Johnson said. "We've beaten SEC teams. We want everyone to be scared of us, and we want them to know our name. We're going in fully expecting to be able to win."
Johnson was as advertised, but Alabama's lineup did some early damage that proved to be more than enough.
Alabama plated three runs in the first inning. Marlie Giles ripped a bases-loaded single that scored two runs, and then Audrey Vandagriff had a productive groundout that plated another run to put Alabama up 3-0.
That's how the game would end.
Alabama managed a few more hits, but could never get across another run. Johnson is one of the best pitchers in the country, and she showed that against a dangerous Tide lineup.
Fortunately for Patrick Murphy, he had Briski. Those three runs were more than she needed as the SEC Pitcher of the Year completely shut down the Bruins on Saturday afternoon at the Rhoads House.
The win propels Alabama to the Regional Final on Sunday, where they will have two opportunities to advance to the Supers. The Crimson Tide's opponent is to be determined. The winner of Southeastern Louisiana and USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon will face off against Belmont on Saturday night. The winner of that matchup will advance to Sunday to face Alabama, needing to knock the Tide off twice to pull off the Regional upset.
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