By: Brett Greenberg
"The crowd was awesome," said UA coach Patrick Murphy. "This was an old-time regional softball game at the Rhoads House."
The Crimson Tide continues to play its best ball of the season after winning the SEC Tournament last week and winning 9-0 in six innings against Alabama State on Friday night in its regional opener.
How the Crimson Tide won its sixth SEC tournament: Montana Fouts strikes out 15 to lead Alabama softball to SEC Tournament semifinal showdown with Tennessee How Alabama won in round one: Lexi Kilfoyl strikes out 15 to lead No. 3 Alabama softball into showdown against Clemson Here are three things we learned as the Crimson Tide carries its winning streak further into the NCAA tournament:
Fouts rhymes with strikeouts Friday night it was Lexi Kilfoyl who delivered 15 strikeouts, including 14 in a row to begin the game. On Saturday, the Crimson Tide’s SEC Tournament record-holder for strikeouts, Fouts, continued her strikeout ways.
Fouts (23-3, 1.55 ERA) struck out 16, tying her career mark. It was her 18th appearance with 10-plus strikeouts on the season, with 14 of the strikeouts against Clemson swinging and two looking.
Fouts got seven of her first eight outs on strikeouts before catching a pop fly for the final out in the third inning.
The Crimson Tide rotation has struck out 32 batters in regional play and allowed just four hits.
Bailey Hemphill breaks homerun record: SEC Player of the Year Bailey Hemphill hammers three home runs in SEC Tournament, breaking Alabama school record All-American Kayla Braud speaks on NCAA tournament: Former star Kayla Braud, now an ESPN analyst, says Alabama softball will 'go as far as Montana Fouts will take them'
Offense continuing to roll The offense did not get a hit until Taylor Clark beat out an infield groundball in the third inning. Alexis Mack and Elissa Brown delivered back-to-back bunts for base hits and Hemphill hit a two-run single to give the Crimson Tide a 2-0 lead.
Hemphill went 2-for-2 with four RBIs.
In the last five games, Alabama is hitting .357 (44-for-123) with two doubles, a triple and six home runs.
In regional play, the Crimson Tide has 20 hits, stolen eight bases, nine runs with two outs and is outscoring opponents 15-0.
Streak rolls, too The victory gives the Crimson Tide its 15th win in a row, 13 coming against ranked opponents.
Alabama hasn't trailed at the end of inning since April 17, which is now at 100 consecutive innings.
What's next With the win, the Crimson Tide will play Sunday at 1 p.m. CT in the regional final. UA is one win away from advancing to the super regional round and must lose twice Sunday to be eliminated.
Clemson will play Saturday afternoon against the winner of the Troy-Alabama State game in an elimination game, with the winner advancing to the regional final.
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