Photo Credit: RollTide.com
When it looked like all was lost, down 3-1 and only four outs from packing it in, Marisa Runyon ripped a grand slam in the sixth inning. That punches Bama's ticket for their 10th trip to the Women's College World Series beginning Thursday, May 28 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Lady Tide have now made the trip four of the last five years, including the big national title year in 2012, as well as the runner-up last season. Only 14 times has a team come back in a Super Regional after losing the opening game to take the series win. This is the second time for Bama to accomplish this task, with the first one back in 2011 against the Stanford Cardinals.
Once again freshman Alexis Osorio (21-8) stepped up big and was one of the deciding factors in the game. She threw 241 pitches combined in Saturday's two games. The Sooners' high-scoring offense was completely throttled in the afternoon game yesterday, falling 2-0. Osorio then gave up three runs on five hits in the evening game that included a pair of home runs from Lauren Chamberlain.
Even if some of the fans and announcers had given up hope, the Lady Tide never gave up hope.
Hitless over her previous 13 at-bats, Marisa Runyon stepped into the box and blasted a grand slam in the sixth to propel the Tide (47-13) to the 5-3 lead and eventual final score. The grand slam now ties Runyon with Charlotte Morgan for the Alabama single season RBI record at 79.
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Women's Tennis
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
After dropping the first set for the second consecutive day, Alabama Crimson Tide duo Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe came roaring back in the 2015 NCAA Doubles Championship. The pair took the win with scores of 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 over Emma Burgic and Blair Shankle of Baylor. The reigning NCAA Doubles Champions continue today when they face Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay of Stanford in the semifinals match.
Both ladies were excited and looking forward to the next opponents.
"This is an amazing feeling," Jansen said. "We've fought through a couple of tough matches the last
two days, and it feels great to have advanced back to the semifinals. We
know we still have work to do, but we're really excited."
Routliffe commented, "Baylor did a really great
job of keeping us off the net. Their lobs and ground
strokes were really working which forced us to play more defensively. We
are most successful when we are the more aggressive team. Baylor was
forcing us off of that, but we knew we just had to stick to our game
plan."
Jansen and Routliffe ended the dual match season at 19-2, 9-1 SEC and are 30-4 overall on the season. They have been Bama's leading duo the entire season.
Women's Golf
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The University of Alabama women's golf team is currently tied for 13th after the second round at the weather-suspended NCAAs at the par-72 Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. Bama is currently carding a 41-over-par 617 following yesterday's suspended round of 19-over 307.
The second-round weather suspension came at approximately 6:25 PM CDT with 12 teams still on the course, and as many as six holes remaining. The top two teams at close were USC with a 14-over and Duke in second at 23-over. The highest-ranking Southeastern Conference team is the Tennessee Volunteers holding down the third slot at 27-over.
Bama's best player thus far is junior Emily Talley in second place, carding a 1-under-par 143. She trails the first place Annie Park out of Southern California by just one shot. Park still has to complete second round play, with seven holes remaining.
Alabama head coach Mic Potter was very complementary of Talley, saying, "Emma
is definitely holding us in there with a chance to make the cut and get
into the top eight, all the things you want to accomplish. The thing she is doing is minimizing her mistakes, she is not
making big numbers -- her highest score was a bogey. She is also giving
herself some chances on the greens and making a couple of birdies. Emma
is doing everything you have to do to play this golf course well. We
just need the rest of our players to learn from that."
Following her 2nd round performance, Talley had this to say, "Yesterday I came out really strong and that was very important for me. I just know that pars were going to be really
good out here and keeping it away from the big numbers was going to be
key. I got into trouble out here a few times today, but I got a bogey
out of it and that was really important. I've been pretty consistent so
far, and I'm hitting and putting the ball pretty well. The course is in
great shape and it is really difficult."
The Alabama team tees off the third round some time this morning. At this writing the time had not yet been determined. The field will be cut to the top 15 teams and the top nine individuals following the conclusion of the
third round. Those top nine individuals will play 18 holes on Monday to determine the seeding for match play and the individual NCAA champion.
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Football
Alabama is no stranger to big opening games, having played the likes of Virginia Tech, West Virginia and others to kick off the college football season. This match-up of the SEC-Big 10 is highly anticipated.
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Football
AT&T Stadium
The opening football game for the University of Alabama will now be "prime time." In a scheduling announcement, ABC will air the Alabama-Wisconsin game scheduled for Septemeber 5th in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas beginning at 7 PM CDT.
Alabama is no stranger to big opening games, having played the likes of Virginia Tech, West Virginia and others to kick off the college football season. This match-up of the SEC-Big 10 is highly anticipated.
