Tide Golfer Robby Shelton Advances In Championships
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Golf Team Ends Season After Three Rounds
University of Alabama Golfer Robbie Shelton
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
University of Alabama junior golfer Robby Shelton is poised to become Alabama's first individual national men's golf champion. After carding a third round score of 2-over par 72 yesterday, and a three-round total of 2-under par 208 (70-66-72), Shelton is certainly making a run at it. He is currently tied for fourth overall after 72 holes as he enters today's fourth and final round of stroke play. He has been an outstanding golfer for the Crimson Tide this season.
The Tide had put on a courageous effort on Saturday shooting a 1-under par 279 to make a huge jump on the leaderboard only to see it all come crashing down on Sunday with a 22-over par 302 to fall to 23rd place overall and out of contention. As a team the Crimson Tide shot 871 overall (290-279-302) to end their season.
The top 15 teams in the 30-team field along with the nine highest individuals not associated with an advancing team move on to compete in today's final round. It looked as though the team would advance based on their improved position on Saturday, but Bama missed that cut by just four strokes as a result of the Sunday breakdown. Shelton will be the top individual seed heading into the final round of stroke play.
Alabama men's golf head coach Jay Seawell had this to say concerning the team's play, as well as that of Shelton, "Simply put, we just did not play well as a team and that's disappointing. It's the NCAA Championships and today was an important round. We didn't come out from the start like we wanted. When we got behind, it just snowballed. I am still proud of our guys. They battled every hole they played and I can't ask more than that as a coach. Golf is a hard game. I thought the guys gave a great effort, but unfortunately we just didn't have it today.
"Robby played great for us all week, so I am happy he is advancing to compete as an individual," Seawell continued. "He had a couple of bad holes on the front nine and that probably threw him off a little. I thought he rallied over his last nine holes but was just unable to make any putts for birdies. We just didn't putt well as an entire team and that was probably the biggest thing against our team."
Shelton rode a streak of 33 consecutive holes without a bogey that spanned from his ninth hole on Friday's opening round to the sixth hole of Sunday's third round. In fact, the Wilmer, Ala., native carded a bogey-free round of 66 on Saturday and is the only player in the field to play an entire round without recording a bogey.
Sophomore Jonathan Hardee entered Sunday's play tied for sixth place, but by the close of the day had slipped to 62nd. He finished the tournament with a three-day total of 7-over par 217 (70-69-78).
The other men on the Alabama squad were freshman Davis Riley finishing at 9-over par 219, junior Dru Love ending his season at 228 and senior Tom Lovelady ending his golf career with the Tide shooting a 229.
Vanderbilt University still holds the overall lead in the tournament with an 845, two strokes ahead of second place Texas (847). Southern Cal (850) is third, LSU (851) is fourth and Oregon rounds out the top five with an 852.
Alabama's Robby Shelton is set to tee off the final round of play at 3:40 p.m. CT from Hole No. 1.
Robby Shelton
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Crimson Tide Golf 2015-16 Record:
(Stroke) Tournaments Played: 11
Team Total Rounds: 33
Average Individual Score Per Round: 72.77
Team Total Strokes: 9, 459
Average Team Round: 286.6
Team Low Round: 268
Tournament Championships: 4
Top-Five Team Finishes (including titles): 6
Top-Six To Ten Team Finishes: 3
Individual Championships (Medalist): 3
Top-10 Individual Finishes: 17
Top-11 - 25 Individual Finishes: 19
Team Overall Record: 99-44-1
*Stats Courtesy RollTide.com
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
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Crimson Tide Ready For Women's College World Series
University Of Alabama Crimson Tide Softball Team
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide softball team is set to begin the 2016 NCAA Women's College World Series at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City scheduled for June 2nd through 7/8. The Tide is making its 18th appearance in the tournament, dating back to 1999. This is the 11th trip for Bama to Oklahoma City, and their fifth since 2010.
The first four games of the WCWS are set for this Thursday. The No. 3 seed Alabama Crimson Tide will play the No. 6 seed Oklahoma Sooners at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
Eight schools will face one another in the tournament. The field includes two, four-team brackets set up in a double-elimination format. The two bracket winners then meet in a best-of-three series for the 2016 NCAA Women's College World Series Championship.
Here is the lineup for Thursday's first four games:
No. 8 seed Florida State vs No. 16 seed Georgia (11 a.m. CT on ESPN)
No. 4 seed Auburn vs No. 12 seed UCLA (1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN)
No. 3 seed Alabama vs No. 6 seed Oklahoma (6 p.m. CT on ESPN2)
No. 2 seed Michigan vs No. 10 seed LSU (8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2)
The first four games of the WCWS are set for this Thursday. The No. 3 seed Alabama Crimson Tide will play the No. 6 seed Oklahoma Sooners at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
Eight schools will face one another in the tournament. The field includes two, four-team brackets set up in a double-elimination format. The two bracket winners then meet in a best-of-three series for the 2016 NCAA Women's College World Series Championship.
Here is the lineup for Thursday's first four games:
No. 8 seed Florida State vs No. 16 seed Georgia (11 a.m. CT on ESPN)
No. 4 seed Auburn vs No. 12 seed UCLA (1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN)
No. 3 seed Alabama vs No. 6 seed Oklahoma (6 p.m. CT on ESPN2)
No. 2 seed Michigan vs No. 10 seed LSU (8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2)
Crimson Tide Softball
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
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University Of Alabama Mascot
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Big AL has been around for quite some time now. Alabama's sport mascot, an elephant named Big AL.
So did you ever wonder how the University of Alabama ended up with an elephant as its mascot? The majority of Bama fans know, or have an idea, but how about the newbies? Or others who just like trivia? Let's delve into how Big AL came to be.
We must go back to the 1930 football season when Wallace Wade was the head coach of the Alabama football team. Coach Wade has recruited and coached up a great football team that season. On October 4th of that year the varsity squad took the field to battle the Ole Miss Rebels. Everett Strupper, Atlanta Journal sportswriter, was amazed at the size of the Bama boys as they began play. In his column the following week he wrote, "...the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed , 'Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,' and out stamped this Alabama varsity...men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size."
From that season game on Strupper and other sports writers continued referring to the Alabama linemen as "Red Elephants." The red, of course, alluding to the crimson color of their jerseys.
And how did that 1930 Alabama football team fare? They posted a 10-0 record while shutting out eight of their opponents and only allowed 13 points for the entire season. That squad went to the Rose Bowl, rolling over Washington State 24-0 and declared National Champions.
Now you know.
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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 5/30/16:
- Najee Harris, RB (6-1, 210), Antioch, California
- 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
