Catching Up with the Crimson Tide: Baseball, softball enter pivotal stretch

It’s a pivotal stretch in conference play for the Alabama baseball and softball teams. Last weekend, the baseball team won its first SEC series of the season. Meanwhile, the softball team cemented a winning record in league play with a massive sweep on the road. Here are some of the games and stories to take shape this week.

Softball

What happened: No. 13 Alabama (33-13) entered Starkville, Mississippi last weekend with a conference mark of .500. The Crimson Tide needed the series, and took it with a three game sweep of Mississippi State. In Friday’s game, Alabama scored the game’s first three runs and added one more in the seventh and final inning, which turned out to be the most important since the Bulldogs scored two in the bottom of the frame. The 4-3 win sent the Crimson Tide’s SEC record to 7-6. Saturday’s game was far less intense- Alabama won 6-0 behind a complete-game shutout from Alex Salter. An Ally Shipman RBI single in the third inning of Sunday’s game was the only run scored by either team in the series finale as Montana Fouts pitches a complete-game shutout for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama followed the big weekend by splitting midweek games in Huntington, W.Va., losing 5-3 to Liberty and winning 3-1 against Marshall.

What’s on deck: It’s softball’s turn for a big home series against Auburn in the Iron Bowl. The baseball team did its job last weekend at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The second act in this season’s iteration of the rivalry on the diamond features a full weekend slate at the Rhoads House. Auburn comes in while also being ranked and holding an identical record to Alabama's

The opening game of the series is Fouts’s Senior Day, and first pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT. Saturday’s game is a 3 p.m. first pitch, and the Sunday finale is set to commence bright and early at 11:30 a.m.

Names to know: Fouts has been one of the best athletes to ever wear an Alabama uniform. It’s only right that her celebration comes in the midst of a big series because competitors like her are made for the big moments. In her final season for the Crimson Tide, she boasts a 17-7 record with a 1.5 ERA and 244 strikeouts over 158 1/3 innings pitched.

Bailey Dowling continued her nice recent string of success at the plate with a trio of hits against Liberty and a home run against Marshall. Her bat was the difference in the Crimson Tide’s nonconference win over Samford last week. Dowling has reached safely in seven straight games.

Baseball

What happened: The Crimson Tide baseball team (26-12, 6-9 SEC) did what it needed to do last weekend, finally taking a series in conference play by beating Auburn two games to one.

Alabama played far from its best in the opener on Friday night and lost 8-4, scoring its only runs in the final inning of play. Saturday and Sunday were excellent rebounds which featured their share of gutsy moments. Alabama held on for a 4-2 victory Saturday as Mac Guscette went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Sunday featured a steal of home from Jim Jarvis as Alabama rolled to a 6-1 win

Simply put, the Crimson Tide needed to triumph in the Iron Bowl series to continue its hopes of making the SEC and NCAA tournaments, and it did.

Unfortunately, one of the strong points of Alabama’s resume took a hit Tuesday when it lost a midweek game for the first time with a 4-3 defeat to UAB in 11 innings. The Blazers have had the Crimson Tide’s number, taking two from Alabama last season. Tuesday's game was sloppy, with multiple errors and one that caused the winning run to score for UAB.

It was confirmed on Thursday that starting pitcher Grayson Hitt will not play again this season. He will have to undergo Tommy John surgery. It’s a crippling blow to Alabama’s rotation, which just got Garrett McMillan back but is still missing Ben Hess.

What’s on deck: It’s harder to win a conference series on the road than it is at home, but that is the task that awaits Alabama this weekend. Three games against Missouri in Columbia are on the docket, and if the Crimson Tide takes all three, that will propel its league record to .500. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. Saturday’s start is at 5 p.m., and Sunday’s is at 1 p.m. These games are massive as the road doesn’t get any easier from here. The next two SEC opponents that Alabama will face after the Tigers (23-13, 5-10 SEC) are LSU and Vanderbilt.

Names to know: Pitching is of vital importance to keeping Alabama in the hunt for a coveted postseason berth. McMillan stepped in for Hitt last Saturday against Auburn and had a true comeback game, going five innings and striking out four. Freshman Riley Quick had his biggest outing of the season in Sunday’s game, going three-plus scoreless innings, and Alton Davis II shut things down on Saturday and Sunday. Alabama needs all the help it can get from its emerging arms with its pitching staff depleted by the aforementioned injuries.

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