Lady Tide Defeats Oklahoma To Win Super Regional, Heading to World Series; Bama-Wisconsin FB Game This Fall Moved To Prime Time

Photo Credit: rolltide.com

      They did it! The Crimson Tide softball team came back from a one-game deficit in the best-of-three NCAA Tuscaloosa Super Regional to defeat the Oklahoma Sooners 2-0 in the Saturday afternoon contest, and then 5-3 Saturday night.  

     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.

     Alabama will face Michigan in their first game in the Women's College World Series on Thursday, May 28. The two teams met earlier in the season, with the Wolverines winning both contests.

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Football

      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.

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