For the second time in the postseason, Alabama softball found itself in a win or go home scenario.
This time, however, the outcome had even higher stakes.
Facing off against the No. 10 seed Duke Blue Devils, the Crimson Tide were down to its last life in the Women’s College World Series. A win would mean an opportunity to stay in the tournament, but a loss would mean the end of the road.
With its back against the wall once again, spectacular pitching from the Crimson Tide allowed head coach Patrick Murphy's squad to prevail with a 2-1 victory in Oklahoma City on Friday night to keep its national title hopes alive.
Now, Murphy’s crew will need to win three more games in a row in order to reach the championship series which is certainly not out of the question for this storied program.
The highly anticipated matchup got started rather quickly as Alabama was able to strike first in the beginning frame after a double off the left field wall by sophomore Marlie Giles brought home Kenleigh Cahalan for the first run on the board.
However, the Blue Devils never gave Murphy and his unit a chance to get comfortable with the early lead as it retaliated with a run of its own in the second frame. Duke’s Ana Gold got a hold of a fastball in the zone and drilled it over the wall in left-center for a solo homer to tie the game up.
After a scoreless third inning, the Blue Devils started to find some success on the base pads in the bottom of the fourth after an early single queued Murphy to make a mid-game pitching change and bring in ace pitcher Kayla Beaver to relieve freshman starter Jocelyn Briski.
Through 3.1 innings of play, Briski allowed five hits and a run, along with tallying a couple strikeouts as well before the conclusion of her night.
Following Beaver’s arrival into the matchup, the Crimson Tide were able to get out of the inning with a groundout and a strikeout, continuing an absolute battle for superiority in the circle between both teams.
Entering the fifth inning, it seemed like no team would be able to find success at the plate as Beaver continued to carve up batters left and right and Duke’s Cassidy Kurn did the same on the other end.
However, it took until the sixth frame for an eventual change on the scoreboard that had appeared the same virtually all night long.
Following Jenna Johnson’s groundout to begin the inning, Giles had a perfect opportunity to continue her excellent day at the plate and she did just that. Facing a 1-0 hitter’s count, Giles jumped on a fastball and crushed it well over the right field wall to add a final run to Alabama’s tally, along with the second RBI of the game for the young catcher.
Once again, Beaver held the Blue Devils scoreless for the third inning in a row, and it all came down to one final frame in Oklahoma City with Alabama holding a 2-1 lead.
Duke decided to keep its ace in as Kurn took the circle for the top half of the inning. Much like she had done all night long, she gave the Crimson Tide batters more trouble at the plate and kept the Alabama off the board in the frame.
Stepping into the circle one last time, Beaver had one goal in mind which was to end Duke's season as soon as possible. Fortunately for the star pitcher, her wish came true.
Facing multiple hard fought battles at the plate, the All-SEC ace had the upper hand and sat down three straight Blue Devil batters to secure a victory for the Crimson Tide in the elimination game.
