Alabama Softball To Open SEC Tournament Play
As Number Five Seed
The UA women completed the regular season with a 40-15 overall record and 12-11 in SEC play, while the Razorbacks are 31-21 overall and 7-17 in the SEC. The Tide swept the Razorbacks earlier this season in Tuscaloosa, and is 56-8 overall versus Arkansas. Bama also holds a 4-1 mark over the Hogs in SEC Tournament play. Alabama won the last SEC Tournament matchup with Arkansas 9-0 in five innings back in 2010.
Crimson Tide softball is no stranger to SEC Tournament play, holding a 36-23 overall record. Alabama has won the SEC Championship in softball five times, with titles coming in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2012.
The victor of Wednesday's contest will face No. 4 seed Texas A&M (42-9, 16-7 SEC) on Thursday, May 11th. That game will be played at 11 a.m. CT and air live on the SEC Network. Tournament semifinals are slated for Friday, May 12th and scheduled to be broadcast on ESPNU. The championship game will be played on Saturday, May 13th at 7 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on ESPN.
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Alabama Softball Wins On Sunday
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Alabama improves to 40-15 overall and 12-11 in SEC play, while Auburn falls to 45-9 overall, 17-7 in the SEC. The Tide will enter the 2017 Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament as the No. 5 overall seed.
The Crimson Tide's Gabby Callaway led the way with her second consecutive multi-hit game, with a two-for-three performance and scoring the Bama's first run of the day on an RBI single in the third inning. Marisa Runyon then followed that run with a two-run double, going one-for-three on the day. Elissa Brown turned in a one-for-three, one run performance in the contest, and Reagan Dykes turned in a one-for-three effort. Auburn's two runs came on solo home runs by Haley Fagan. Alexis Osorio (20-7) took the win for the Crimson Tide, and other than the two home runs, allowed just one hit to the other eight batters in the lineup. She also tossed 14 strikeouts in the contest. Sydney Littlejohn earned her second save of the season.
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Bama Baseball Bests Auburn On Sunday
In Longest Game In Tide History
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Three times now the Tide has swept the Tigers in Auburn in consecutive weekend series in Alabama baseball history, the the first time that Bama has completed back-to-back three-game series sweeps of Auburn on the Plains. The Crimson Tide has now bested the Tigers seven consecutive times at Auburn tying the longest winning streak over AU in Auburn. The first time was from May 1955 to April 1958.
As they say here in the South, Sunday's series finale was a humdinger. The contest saw seven lead changes, three of which occurred in extra innings taking the game to 15 innings.
The Crimson Tide put a total of eight pitchers on the mound for the Sunday contest, and 20 different players put in time on the field for the win. It was Alabama's seventh pitcher of the night, Sonny Potter (1-1) picking up his first career win with 0.1 innings in the contest. Garret Suchey is credited with the save.
Alabama's Chandler Taylor led the Bama offense, going four-for-six in the contest with two doubles, a home run, one RBI, two walks as well as a team-best three runs scored. Hunter Alexander also picked up a home run in the game, going two-for-six on the night with two RBIs, two runs scored and two walks. Cobie Vance was three-for-seven with two RBIs, and Sam Finnerty went three-for-eight with an RBI of his own.
Alabama will next make a short hop to Birmingham to take on the Samford Bulldogs in an out of conference contest at Joe Lee Griffin Stadium on Tuesday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. CT, with the game set to air live on YouTube courtesy of SamfordSports.com. The Bulldogs defeated the Crimson Tide back on March 15th by a score of 10-3 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
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2018 University Of Alabama Football Commits
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team currently has 3 student-athletes who have committed to furthering their football careers at the Capstone. As new commits and signees are announced the list will be updated and released.
Here is the complete list of 2017 commitments and signees to UA as of 05/08/17:
- Dameon Pierce, RB (5-11, 205), Bainbridge, Georgia
- Jordan Davis, DE (6-6, 240), Memphis, Tennessee
- Xavier Williams, WR/ATH (6-1, 185), Hollywood, Florida
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Bobby Bowden Says Alabama-FSU Is A
Great Way To Open The 2017 Season
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| Bobby Bowden Photo Credit: ChristianSpeakers360.com |
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - One really shouldn't ask former Florida State University head coach Bobby Bowden to make a prediction concerning the 2017 season-opener between the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Seminoles. He'll just tell you he "couldn't do that." Bowden coached the Seminoles for 34 years and collected two National Championships while doing so.
Bowden was in Birmingham for the very first Samford University athletics Hall of Fame class when he was asked about the upcoming football game. He played football and baseball and ran track at Samford, then known as Howard College, from 1949-52. Bowden then served as the school's offensive coordinator from 1954-55 and head coach from 1959-62.
Though he said that Alabama and FSU are his two favorite teams and looks forward to the game, he said he wouldn't make a prediction. He commented, "I couldn’t do that [make a prediction]. It would be a guess. My two favorite teams are playing: Alabama and Florida State."
The former FSU head man did admit that, though he was the Seminoles head coach for quite a number of years, he's actually been to more Crimson Tide games than those of FSU. When asked if the Seminoles could play with the Tide, Bowden said, "I think they can play with anybody right now to be honest with you. I think he’ll [Jimbo Fisher] have a real good football team. Jimbo coached with Nick Saban for a long time. He knows him like a book. Saban knows him like a book. They’re both from West Virginia. I’ll be shocked if it’s not a great game."
Just to mention it here, that "book" has changed over the years. The things Saban did back then as opposed to now...well...there is a difference in the offensive look of the Crimson Tide, even if power football remains the mainstay. Of course the same can be said for Fisher in that he's been changing a bit with the times himself.
Bowden did say that the Alabama-Florida State contest was indeed a "great way to open the season." He says that both teams are going to be good.
Thanks for the insight, Bobby.
