Photo Credit: rolltide.com
Who would have thunk it? Crimson Tide baseball swept Auburn in a three-game series this past weekend. On Sunday the Tide's bats blasted the Tigers 14-4 in their own house in Plainsman Park. This was Bama's first sweep of the season, and the first in Auburn since 1983.
Alabama's record improves to 28-24 overall and 11-16 in the SEC.
Alabama baseball head coach Mitch Gaspard said, "We had our best weekend offensively. It certainly all came together for us, particularly on the offensive end. I'm real pleased with the offense, and really the way we played overall. I thought we had three very solid games in Auburn."
AUBURN, Ala. -- Alabama baseball completed the sweep
of Auburn with a 14-4 blowout victory on Sunday afternoon inside
Plainsman Park. The Crimson Tide used big innings all afternoon to
ensure the victory and improve to 28-24 overall, 11-16 in conference
play. The sweep was Alabama's first sweep of the season and marked the
first time the Crimson Tide have taken all three games of a series in
Auburn since May 7-8, 1983. The 10-run win is the largest margin of
victory over the Tigers since a 13-3 win in Auburn on May 16, 2009.
Every Bama batter reached base at least once in the big Sunday win over Auburn. Bama bats pounded out 16 hits. Georgie Salem and J.C. Wilhite tied for the team lead in hits at four hits each. Will Haynie led the team with three RBIs, two of which came on a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Leading the team in runs was freshman Cody Henry with a career-high four on the day. He also added an additional three hits and one RBI.
Starting pitcher Geoffrey Bramblett earned the win, pitching six innings while allowing three runs on four hits. He issued two walks and struck out six batters. Two reliever came in to pitch the final three innings. They were Ray Castillo and Thomas Burrows. The duo allowed only one run while posting three strikeouts.
UA will face Mercer in a Tuesday game at Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville, Alabama. This will be the Tide's final midweek game of the season. First pitch is 6:30 PM CDT.
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Softball
University of Alabama softball has gone to the NCAA Tournament for sixteen straight years now. Strike that. Make that seventeen.
The Crimson Tide has now been selected as the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, making it 17 years in a row that the Tide has made the tourney. Bama will host one of the regionals in Tuscaloosa beginning Friday, May 15.
Softball head coach Patrick Murphy commented, "We never take this for granted and it never gets old. To see Alabama up on the TV makes all the hard work worth it. I'm really happy with the senior class. Now they've made the tournament all four years. This has been a really easy team to coach and I'm really excited for the postseason."
This will be the eleventh consecutive season UA has hosted a regional tournament in the NCAAs, the thirteenth overall. Murphy has brought the Tide to the NCAA Tournament every year since becoming Alabama softball's head coach. Quite a feat.
Alabama will be hosing Washington, USC Upstate and Fairfield in this year's regional. Bama has met Washington five times in program history with Washington taking wins in four. Washington is 40-16 on the season. They last played in 2009.
The Tide and USC Upstate have met only once. That was last year, with Bama coming away with the win in the regional tournament. USC Upstate is 43-8.
Bama and Fairfield have never previously played. Fairfield is 24-22 on the year and this is the team's first tournament bid.
The tourney begins this Friday, with Washington and USC Upstate kicking things off at 12:30 PM CDT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Alabama will play Fairfield at 3PM CDT. That game will be aired live on the SEC Network.
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City of Birmingham
The Vulcan
The city symbol of Birmingham, Alabama, the Vulcan statue is the largest cast iron statue in the world. The statue is a reflection in the roots of the city of Birmingham in the iron and steel industry. The 56-foot (17 m) tall statue depicts the Roman god Vulcan, god of the fire and forge. It was created as Birmingham's entry for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 World's Fair) in St. Louis, Missouri. The statue is the world's largest iron-ore statue, and among the nation's tallest.
Vulcan Park and Museum (VPM) features views of Birmingham, an interactive history museum that examines Vulcan and Birmingham's story, and a beautiful 10-acre (4 ha) urban green space for visitors and locals to enjoy. In May 2007, Vulcan Park and Museum was designated an official Birmingham Information Center by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau and offers information on transportation services, restaurants, events and other cultural offerings in Birmingham.
(according to wikipedia.org)
