TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Backhanding a grounder up the middle, second baseman Kali Heivilin flipped the ball with her glove to shortstop Salen Hawkins, who stepped on second and rifled a throw to first to put the finishing touches on No. 15 Alabama softball’s 2-0 win over Missouri on Sunday.
The game-ending double play allowed the Crimson Tide (35-18, 11-10) to secure its first series sweep in front of a packed Senior Day crowd inside Rhoads Stadium. It might have also signaled the turning of a page for an Alabama team that has struggled to put away wins this season.
End-of-game situations have been an Achilles heel for head coach Patrick Murphy’s Team 29. The Tide has lost eight times this season when tied or winning after five innings. That tally nearly increased to nine on Saturday, as Alabama blew a 6-1 lead in the sixth inning before rallying back for a walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh.
Nevertheless, the Tide’s ability to stack up wins over the weekend is a good sign with the postseason right around the corner.
“We probably wouldn’t have won [Saturday] if it were early March. Seriously,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said following Sunday’s win. “But sometimes you’ve got to go through the you-know-what to get to the good stuff.”
Alabama is 33-8 when leading or tied after five innings this season. Six of those losses occurred in the first 26 games. That included a three-game stretch when the Tide dropped games to Mississippi State, Florida State and Texas A&M under such circumstances.
Instead of a come-to-Jesus speech to his players, Murphy opted for a more subtle course of correction. Following Alabama’s string of late-game collapses in late March, he scheduled a “fundamental week” where his team focused on drills they worked on during preseason practice in the fall. Murphy even elected not to explain the slump-busting shift in routine in order to avoid adding more pressure to the situation.
“If you harp on it too much, then it becomes even bigger,” Murphy said. “If you’re 0-for-8 and I come talk to you about it, you’re going to be 0-for-16. You just get back to work. It’s the elephant in the room. You don’t even say anything.”
So far, the move has paid off.
Alabama is 13-2 in its last 15 games when it has left the fifth inning tied or with a lead. That includes all four of the Tide’s wins this past week.
“Murph always said we need a longer runway, and I think that’s what we do,” said left field Lauren Johnson, who delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to give Alabama the lead in Sunday’s win. “Honestly, when you don’t succeed as much, you grow a lot. I think that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Along with allowing Alabama to complete its first series sweep, Sunday’s win marked the Tide’s seventh victory in nine games.
The Tide’s late-season resurgence is beginning to feel similar to last year when it rallied to make its 15th Women’s College World Series appearance despite finishing with a losing record in SEC play. That run was marked by slew of late-game heroic, as Alabama recorded five of its six wins in the NCAA Tournament by three runs or fewer runs while grinding out a pair of extra-inning victories along the way.
“A lot of our returners have a good story to build off of last year,” pitcher Jocelyn Briski said. “We can help the newbies. Like, it’s not the end of the world if you lose a game. There is so much left in the season.”
As for what it will take for Alabama to return to the WCWS this year, Murphy says the formula generally boils down to three factors — really good starting pitching, sound team defense and key hits.
Alabama got all three of those in this weekend’s sweep of Missouri.
After battling through an up-and-down sophomore season, Briski is finally looking like the ace the Tide needs her to be. The right-hander earned the wins on Friday and Sunday against the Tigers, allowing just two earned runs over 13⅓ combined innings over the weekend.
Briski put together her most efficient outing of the season during Sunday’s finale, giving up five hits while striking out five batters over seven scoreless innings. That came on just 80 pitches, as the sophomore didn’t issue a walk, something she has struggled with throughout the year.
“I would say it’s more of a mental change,” Briski said. “Most of the times when the walks happen, I feel like I’ve given up a hit previously or there was an error on the field. Then I start getting into my head, like ‘I have to be perfect now.’ … I think I internalize the pressure a lot myself. And today in the seventh inning, I was like, ‘OK, she got a hit. The next girl’s not going to get a hit.’ And then we rolled the double play.
“I think if I can continue to stay strong like that mentally, and also going back and seeing the results of no walks, I think that’s really going to help me take my next step throughout the rest of the season.”
Alabama’s game-winning double play on Sunday was one of three it turned on the weekend. The Tide also avoided any errors throughout the series.
Alabama’s bats weren’t as hot as they have been against Missouri, but the Tide still managed 13 runs on 20 hits over the three games. Alabama is currently hitting .322 as a team this season, up from .251 last year.
“We have tons of confidence,” Johnson said. “I think that’s what our driving factor is, that we know thats someone’s going to get it done, but more important, you know yourself is going to get it done.”
Alabama will look to continue its momentum as it closes out the regular season on the road against South Carolina this week before taking part in the SEC Tournament in Athens, Georgia. From there, the Tide will aim to repeat last year’s run to the WCWS in the NCAA Tournament.
While that didn’t look likely earlier this year, it’s beginning to seem a lot more possible at the moment.
“We did a lot of learning in the beginning of the season, so that definitely helped,” Johnson said. “We used it, and finally, luck is turning our way.”
