Crimson Tide Softball No. 5 Seed In SEC Tournament
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Opens Play With Mississippi State Bulldogs On Wednesday
It's Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament time! The fourth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide softball team (45-11 overall, 16-8 SEC) enters this year's tournament as the No. 5 seed, and will open play this Wednesday, May 11th with the host team and No. 12 seed Mississippi State (25-30 overall, 3-21 SEC) at 6:30 pm CT live on the SEC Network.
The Crimson Tide swept the Bulldogs earlier this season when they met in a three-game series in Tuscaloosa. In those three games Bama outscored State 23-2. The winner of this Wednesday's contest will move on to the second round on Thursday to face four-seeded Auburn (46-9, 16-7 SEC).
Alabama has won five SEC Tournament Championships, with those coming in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2012. The Tide's overall tournament record is 35-22.
The 2016 edition of the tournament will take place at the brand-new Nusz Park in Starkville, Mississippi. The ESPN family of networks will be providing coverage of the entire tournament, with the first and second round games being broadcast live on the SEC Network, the Friday semifinals on ESPNU and Saturday’s championship game on ESPN.
Here is the complete schedule for the 2016 SEC Softball Tournament:
Wednesday, May 11
First Round – SEC Network
- Game One: Missouri (6) vs. South Carolina (11) – 11 am CT
- Game Two: LSU (7) vs. Texas A&M (10) – 1:30 pm CT
- Game Three: Georgia (8) vs. Ole Miss (9) – 4 pm CT
- Game Four: Alabama (5) vs. Mississippi State (12) – 6:30 pm CT
Second Round – SEC Network
- Game Five: Tennessee (3) vs. Game One Winner – 11 am CT
- Game Six: Kentucky (2) vs. Game Two Winner – 1:30 pm CT
- Game Seven: Florida (1) vs. Game Three Winner – 4 pm CT
- Game Eight: Auburn (4) vs. Game Four Winner – 6:30 pm CT
Semifinals – ESPNU
- Game Nine: Game Five Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 2 pm CT
- Game 10: Game Seven Winner vs. Game Eight Winner – 4:30 pm CT
Championship – ESPN
- Game Nine Winner vs. Game 10 Winner – 4 pm CT
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Tide Softball Drops Finale To Georgia 9-5 Yesterday
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Daniel Melograna
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Tide Softball Drops Finale To Georgia 9-5 Yesterday
Alabama softball fell to the Georgia Bulldogs 9-5 yesterday afternoon at Rhoads Stadium in the series finale.
Crimson Tide head coach Patrick Murphy commented, "We just needed a better overall start from our starting lineup." Concerning the lineup and overall play he said, "There were too many holes in the lineup and we didn’t play very
good defense. We had a little run at the end but it was too little, too
late."
With the loss Alabama falls to 45-11 overall, 16-8 SEC, with Georgia improving to 40-16, 12-12 SEC.
The Tide used all three of its pitchers yesterday, but the loss was credited to starter Sydney Littlejohn (22-5). She pitched a total of 3.2 innings in the losing effort.
Murphy was very complimentary of the Crimson Tide fans at the games this season, saying, "The attendance this year has been unbelievable. It’s unfortunate that we had a great crowd for a great cause today and
didn’t come out with the win. We’ve lucked out on some weather which has
helped a lot."
Alabama will begin postseason play this week at the 2016 SEC
Tournament being held in Starkville, Mississippi. The Tide enter the tournament competition as
the No. 5 seed and will open against tournament host and
12th-seed Mississippi State on Wednesday, May 11 at 6:30 pm CT. That game can be seen live on the
SEC Network.
Softball Senior Recognition
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Daniel Melograna
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Daniel Melograna
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Alabama Baseball Falls To Auburn 8-1
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Alabama baseball suffered a Sunday loss to in-state rival Auburn by a score of 8-1. With the loss the Tide falls to 27-21 over and 12-12 in SEC play.
Crimson Tide baseball head coach Mitch Gaspard said, "Give Auburn credit today, as they jumped on (Nick Eicholtz) pretty quick. (Anfernee) Grier and (Melvin) Gray popped the first couple pitches they saw, and then (Niko) Buentello who had a really good weekend, followed suit. You look up after three innings and you're down 5-0. I think they had a little flurry right there early and kind of jumped on us."
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Nick Eicholtz (3-3) suffered the loss. He pitched 6.1 innings allowing six runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Eicholtz gave up five of those runs in the first three innings, but bounced back to retire 10 of the final 11 batters he faced before exiting the game. The Tigers added single runs off the Alabama bullpen in each of the final three innings to secure the 8-1 victory.
Alabama scored its lone run of the day in the bottom of the fifth inning with Chance Vincent leading off with a single, and then advancing to second base on a throwing error by the AU pitcher. A ground-out to the right side moved Vincent to third before a wild pitch allowed him to score, making it 5-1 after five innings.
The Crimson Tide picked up a total of 34 hits on the weekend including 12 on Sunday. These 34 are the most hits across a three-game series for Bama this season.
Bama travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas next weekend for a three-game series with the Razorbacks from May 13-15. The two teams are scheduled for a 6:30 pm CT start on Friday, a 6 pm CT start on Saturday and then a 1 pm CT start for Sunday's series finale. All three contests will air live on SECN+.
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2017 Football Commitments For Alabama Football
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team currently has 9 student-athletes who have committed to furthering their football careers at the Capstone. As new commits are announced the list will be updated and released.
Here is the complete list of 2017 commitments to UA as of 5/09/16:
- Najee Harris, RB (6-1, 210), Antioch, Calififornia
- Alex Leatherwood, OL (6-4, 300), Pensacola, Florida
- Chadarius Townsend, ATH, (6-0, 180), Tanner, Alabama*
- Xavier McKinney, DB (6-1, 170), Roswell, Georgia
- Brian Robinson, RB (6-2, 210), Tuscaloosa, Alabama*
- Aaron Sterling, DL (6-1, 270), Stone Mountain, Georgia
- Gary Johnson, LB (6-2, 225), Dodge City (Kan.) Community College
- VanDarius Cowan, LB (6-4, 217), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
- Tua Tagovailoa, QB (6-1, 210), Honolulu, Hawaii
*State of Alabama Recruits/Commitments
