Alabama Crimson Tide Softball Needs Wins at South Carolina for NCAA Résumé

A return to Tuscaloosa after a dominant effort in Tallahassee is on tap for the Tide. It should be smooth sailing, but don’t get complacent and take the foot off the gas.

TUESDAY: ALABAMA 8, UAB 0 (5 Inn.)

Alabama had their first midweek cupcake game of the season versus a lousy UAB team (7-8) and had no problem dispatching of the Dragons. Salen Hawkins had a 3-run homer; Lauren Johnson doubled in a pair; Ana Roman had an RBI single; and Ambrey Taylor doubled in two runs in the 5th to enact the run-rule.

Jocelyn Briski went 4.0 innings yielding 2 singles, and striking out 7. Kaitlyn Pallozzi pitched a rocky fifth, allowing two singles but getting out of the frame unscathed.

ACCOLADES

• Vic Moten was named SEC Pitcher of the Week. Fellow hurler Kaitlyn Pallozzi is the SEC Freshman of the Week. Sports Illustrated named the duo Co-Freshmen of the Week. Pallozzi is the D1Softball Frosh of the Week.
• Alexis Pupillo is the Softball America Star Player of the Week.

RAT POISON

• Softball America 13 ↑ 8 ↑ 6 ↑ 4 – Lawd!
• D1Softball 14 ↑ 10 ↑ 9 ↑ 8
• USAToday/NFCA 15 ↑ 10 ↑ 9 ↑ 7
• ESPN/USA Softball 16 ↑ 13 ↑ 8 ↑ 5

SCHEDULE

The Crimson Tide is back in Tuscaloosa for the Crimson Cupcake Classic.

• Fri, Feb 27 vs St. Thomas 4pm/5pm – Kristen White – Senior Day
• Fri, Feb 27 vs USF 6:30/7:30
• Sat, Feb 28 vs Kent State 11am/noon – Alea Johnson Senior Day
• Sat, Feb 28 vs USF 1:30/2:30
• Sun, Mar 1 vs St. Thomas 11:30am/12:30pm – Kinley Pate Senior Day
• Sun, Mar 1 vs Oakland* – 30 minutes following the game vs. St. Thomas

* The game with Oakland (Michigan) was scheduled just this week. The Grizzlies originally had a series on the road at Delaware State planned for this weekend, but it was cancelled.

HOW TO WATCH… ALLEGEDLY

Moar SECN+ streaming (ESPN+).

WEATHER

Tuscaloosa temperatures should be in the 70s with partly sunny and partly cloudy skies.

SOUTH FLORIDA (15-5)

The Bulls are one of the better mid-major teams, but still not on the level of an SEC team. They started the opening weekend with losses to Illinois State and Michigan, and loss the finale to Florida. Since then, USF had gone 13-2. Last season, the Bulls went 44-16-1 and represented the AAC in the NCAA Tournament where they went 1-2 in Tallahassee Regional.

Alex Wilkes is hitting .352 with 6 homers and 24 RBI. Toryn Fulton is at .395 with 4 round-trippers and 16 RBIs. Outside of those two, only one other Bull has hit one out of the park and they have scored only 97 runs in 20 games (4.85 per game – not great).

South Florida has some decent pitching with Anne Long having a 0.91 ERA in 30.2 innings and McKenna Schroding at 1.50 over 23.1. The team ERA of 2.43 is top 20 in the nation. The fielding percentage is a solid .980.

ST THOMAS (11-4)

The Tommies have played only one halfway decent team, Southeastern Louisiana, and lost to them 3-2. The other three defeats were to UMass Lowell, Sam Houston, and SIUE. St. T was 33-17 last season and finished second to Omaha in the Summit League. The team BA is .342 and they have hit 27 homers – 1.8 per game. Ella Cook is 4-1 with a team best 0.89 ERA over 31.1 innings. She is also hitting .378 with 17 RBI.

KENT STATE (8-6)

KSU is not good. The team ERA is 5.33 and they haven’t played any team worth mentioning.

OAKLAND (6-3)

Oakland’s six wins have come against colleges you probably have not heard of. They lost to Valpo, Drake, and DePaul. The Grizzlies do have four players hitting over .400, but have only five home runs as a team. Team ace Kenna Bommarito has a 0.83 ERA over 24.1 innings.

TEN CENT ANALYSIS

Just like the Bama Bash, there is not much reason to think Alabama loses a game this weekend. As long as the Tide can avoid the rat poison and stay healthy, things should go smoothly.

#RollTide #Team30