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Share Your Photos & Stories
Do you have photographs or stories of Alabama Crimson Tide sports? Perhaps you have had your photograph made with NICK SABAN, AVERY JOHNSON, BEAR BRYANT, or other coaches or players current or past. If so, why not share them with the blog readers? You can send a photo or story to @1High_Tide on Twitter, private message or send to email at hightideblogpost@gmail.com .
Anything you have available will be considered. Your stories will receive you by-line credit, or at least a share if not already written. Photographs will receive a photo credit listing you or whoever snapped picture.
Interested parties please contact me quickly. I'd like to have this feature ready to go by the close of Spring Football and the 2016 Spring Football Game.
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Bama Men's Basketball To N.I.T.
Bama Head Coach Avery Johnson
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team will take their 18-14 and march right in to the 2016 National Invitation Tournament as the No. 5 seed to face No. 4 seed Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska tomorrow night at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Alabama head coach AVERY JOHNSON said, "We're excited for the opportunity to participate in the NIT. Obviously, coming into this season, there weren't many people picking us to participate in any postseason. We defied the odds all year. We played pretty good basketball all season in a tough Southeastern Conference and challenged ourselves with a tough non-conference schedule. Because of that and the 18 wins for us this year, we are fortunate enough to play in the NIT vs. an outstanding Creighton team. Creighton has a terrific home court advantage and a hostile environment. It's an opportunity for our team to get more basketball education in what will be a meaningful postseason game."
The Crimson Tide and Blue jays have met only once before in the series history, with that game also coming in the postseason in 2012 in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region in the second round. Creighton came away with a 58-57 victory.
This will be Bama's 13th appearance in the National Invitational Tournament to lead all SEC schools. The Tide is 24-16 in the NIT. Alabama leads the SEC in wins in the NIT, with South Carolina second with 21.
Tasked with a job of returning Alabama men's basketball to prominence following the steady decline of years' past, head basketball coach AVERY JOHNSON and his staff came through with a season no one expected when he was hired. Tide was expected, by many, to finish only above Missouri this season, but Johnson brought the Tide to a near NCAA Tournament invitation. However, the 18-14 Crimson Tide will be headed to the National Invitation Tournament.
The Alabama-Creighton winner will face the winner of the Wednesday night contest between No. 1 see St. Bonaventure and No. 8 seed Wagner. The time and location are yet to be determined for that match.
A total of seven Southeastern Conference schools will be participating in post season action, either in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia will play in the NIT this year while Texas A&M, Kentucky and Vanderbilt head to the NCAA Tournament.
Congratulations to head coach Avery Johnson and his entire staff:
AVERY JOHNSON ----- Head Coach
BOB SIMON -------------- Associate Head Coach
SCOTT POSPICHAL --- Assistant Coach
ANTOINE PETTWAY-- Assistant Coach
LOU DeNEEN ------------ Strength & Conditioning Coach
KOBIE BAKER ---------- Special Asst. to Head Coach/Senior Dir. of Operations
COLTON HOUSTON --- Director of Operations
ALEX FAIN --------------- Video Coordinator
CLARKE HOLTER ----- Athletic Trainer
DAVID MILLER --------- Assistant Video Coordinator
Graphic Credit: RollTide.com
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Tide Baseball Wins 7-6 Over Houston
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team improved to 11-4 on the season yesterday by defeating the 21st-ranked Houston Cougars 7-6 on a WILL HAYNIE solo home run in the top of the eighth inning at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The exhuberant Haynie said, "It was a great feeling to get that home run. It feels like it's been tough in the box for a while, but it just feels good to help the team get a win. I was sitting on a fastball, saw my pitch and got good contact on it."
Haynie led the Tide in hitting going 2-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored. Junior HUNTER WEBB led Bama in RBIs with two, and a run scored going 1-for-4.
On getting to play in yesterday's contest, Webb said, "I found out about five minutes before we got the game going. It was a late scratch, but we work our tails off every day and everyone stays ready to go in the game when they're called on. I was prepared to play, and I just tried to go out there and do what I could to help us get a win."
Concerning his double Webb commented, "It was good to get the scoring going early, especially early in the game. I was looking for the right pitch, and I got a good swing on the ball when my pitch came. That double was huge, and able to get the runs in."
Starting on the mound for Bama was senior JON KELLER, tossing 6.0 innings, allowing four run (two earned) on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. DYLAN DUARTE (2-1) got the win with an excellent two final innings of work.
Alabama head baseball coach MITCH GASPARD said, "It's been a little bit of a battle for the last six games offensively. So it was nice to see the offense going. We had to overcome a lot this weekend. We had three guys injured, and a couple of them were on the fly with last-minute type stuff. I thought some guys like Hunter (Webb), DYLAN DUARTE, and (DANIEL) CUCJEN stepped in and did a really nice job. They really impacted the game today to help us win."
Alabama now begins a six-game road trip, with the first game with Southern Miss tomorrow, the 15th, at 6 p.m. CT. The Tide will then travel to Baton Rouge for the first SEC game of the season with the LSU Tigers. The Tide-Tigers meeting will be a three-game weekend series, with the Friday game beginning at 7 p.m. CT.
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Women's Tennis Loses At Tennessee 4-2
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The University of Alabama women's tennis team (4-8, 0-4 SEC) lost 4-2 yesterday to the Tennessee Volunteers (7-7, 1-3 SEC). Though the Tide picked up singles wins from juniors ERIN ROUTLIFFE and DANIELLE SPIELMANN.
Alabama will be on the road for the next two matches. Next up for the Crimson Tide is Arkansas in Fayetteville this Friday, March 18th. The match will be played at noon CT. Bama then heads to Columbia, Missouri to take on the Tigers on Sunday, March 20th at noon CT.
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Softball Crushed By LSU 8-1
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
LSU (23-3) jumped out to an early three-run lead before Alabama (22-4) was finally able to score their first run of the game off an RBI double by MARISA RUNYON in the third inning of the contest. The score remained at 3-1 until the huge five-run sixth inning for the Tigers giving them an 8-1 advantage to complete the scoring on the day. The Tide was held to just four hits, coming from Runyun, ANDREA HAWKINS, LEONA LAFAELE and SYDNEY BOOKER.
The usually-dependable ALEXIS OSARIO had problems in the contest, giving up all eight runs before being pulled from the contest and replaced with a new pitcher for the Tide after the Tiger's five-run sixth inning explosion. She not only gave up eight runs, but also gave up ten hits and a season-high four walks. Carley Hoover (10-0) went the distance and took the win for LSU.
Alabama steps outside the conference for its next game and travels to Fullerton, California for the Easton Tournament to play five games in three days. The tournament opens on Thursday, March 17th with the Tide playing host Cal State Fullerton. That first game starts at 7:30 p.m. CT.
