If it’s one thing that Alabama softball does well, it’s pitching.
Throughout the last decade and beyond, the Crimson Tide have consistently put together elite pitching rotations which have been able to string together incredible success in the circle.
From talents such as Jackie Traina to Montana Fouts, head coach Patrick Murphy knows what to look for in his pitchers. Most notably, the veteran head coach found his most recent stars this season.
Without a doubt, freshman Jocelyn Briski and Central Arkansas transfer Kayla Beaver have been the two of the biggest workhorses of this Alabama team and are a primary reason that the Crimson Tide have made it so far.
Friday night in Oklahoma City, the duo got their chance to prove just how talented they are on a national scale against the Duke Blue Devils in an elimination game for the Women’s College World Series.
“Coming into this game, there's a lot on the line,” Beaver said. “There's two teams playing against each other, their seasons are on the line. We got a lot of seniors on this team. Coming in, playing free, not letting those emotions get to us. That's what it really comes down to.”
Taking the circle to start the win or go home game was Briski who asserted her presence rather quickly, striking her first batter and getting out of the inning with a runner on second base.
Entering the second frame, Alabama had some momentum on its side following an RBI double by catcher Marlie Giles. However, the Blue Devils were hungry to get back into the game and it was successful at Briski’s expense.
After getting the first out quickly, Briski delivered a fastball that was crushed over the left field wall to tie the game up at one run each. Fortunately for Alabama, this would be the only one surrendered all night long.
Despite giving up a big home run, Murphy still had faith in his pitcher who continued to close out the inning and pitch another shutout inning in the third. Briski’s time in the circle came to a close in the fourth inning after giving up a single with one out.
From there, Murphy decided to turn to his ole reliable, Kayla Beaver.
“Briski gave us a good start,” Murphy said. “The reason why I took her out, a couple lefties in there. Beaver is really good against lefties.”
Right away, Beaver had absolutely no intentions of letting Duke tack on anything else on the scoreboard, as two straight outs in the bottom of the fourth ended the inning and kept the game tied at one run apiece.
After a hot start upon entering the game, Beaver was on fire and could not be stopped as she proceeded to throw three straight hitless innings in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to secure the victory over the Blue Devils.
Though the bats may not have been Alabama’s calling card throughout the night, its pitching certainly picked up the slack and is the reason that the Crimson Tide are advancing even further to a long awaited shot at a national title.
“Wearing the A, it's a dream,” Beaver said. “Being here makes it even better. Everything that I wanted to happen coming in this year, having one year to do it, there was a lot I wanted to get done in a year. We've done it all. There's one more thing left.”
Through 3.1 innings, Briski allowed five hits and just one run, along with tallying two strikeouts as well. In relief, Beaver pitched 3.2 innings, not allowing a single hit and tallying a whopping five strikeouts.
Next up for the Crimson Tide is a matchup between the winner of Saturday night’s matchup between No. 1 seed Texas and No. 4 seed Florida. Alabama will face-off against the winner on June 2 at 3:30 p.m. CT.
