GAME 1: ALABAMA 9, KENTUCKY 0 (6 innings)The Crimson Tide got back to business with four home runs and stellar pitching in a 6 innings, run rule victory. But first, the doubles. Jena Young and Audrey Vandagriff led off the 2nd inning with back-to-back doubles to get the scoring going. Then came a rain of windshield bashers.
Marlie Giles with the two-run shot!📺ESPN2 | https://t.co/CDqxn2iJWf#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/H256VddWrt
Brooke Wells with a two-run opposite field dinger — her 19th of the season…
Home run #⃣1⃣9⃣ for Brooke Wells📺ESPN2 | https://t.co/CDqxn2iJWf#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/YghGOyX1eb
Ana Roman with the solo shot to center🚀📺ESPN2 | https://t.co/CDqxn2iJWf#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/x7wTaIVE26
And finally in the 6th, Giles singled, Young walked, and Vandagriff walked it off with a 3 RBI homer to left center.
Perhaps the least talked about story in college softball this year has to be the metamorphosis of Jocelyn Briski (17-1). A year ago, she was looking like a nice complimentary No. 2. Now, she is a full-on ace. The junior earned her third complete game shutout of the year and her second in the last three starts. She struck out five — which is low for her — but had no walks or HBP and harmlessly scattered four UK hits.
It is hard to complain about a mercy rule shut out, but you know I am going to… After Vandagriff’s 2nd inning RBI double, Roman singled to put runners on the corners with no out, but the Tide failed to increase their lead at that time. The Tide left runners on base in every inning and two on base in each of innings 2 through 5.
Alexis Pupillo on-base streak came to an end at 39 straight games. [I musta jinxed her by mentioning the streak in the preview.] The Crimson Tide leadoff hitter went 0-4.
Patrick Murphy went nuts with pinch-runners, employing three, including running for Marlie Giles and Salen Hawkins — who are both more than capable runners. The other was Wells.
Kristen White again started in center. She went 0-2 with a walk and a run scored. Larissa Preuitt replace Roman in right field to begin the 6th for some reason. She did not make a plate appearance. Lo-Jo did not play.
This one was a pitcher’s duel for awhile. Each team struggled to get much of anything going until Bama had two outs in the 5th inning and starting leftfielder Lauren Johnson connected on a solid single ahead of Alexis Pupillo who crushed a ball into the stratosphere.
Scoreless No More!📺SECN+ | https://t.co/SbU69DOzBe#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/iArPbqUJ8c
Kentucky struck back in the 6th against starting pitcher Vic Moten when the leadoff hitter kinda threw her bat at the ball and it made it’s way though the infield. A bloop single put two runners on with no outs. After a strikeout, the next Wildcat batter drilled a ball through the right side of the infield to make it 2-1. At this point, Bama coach Patrick Murphy may have panicked a little when he decided to bring in Jocelyn Briski to pitch instead of letting Moten work through the trouble. The first batter Briski faced fouled off several pitches in a long at bat before slapping a seeing-eye single through the right side that plated a pair of Wildcat runners. The next two batted balls found their way into Alabama gloves to end the threat.
With the Tide down 3-2 in the 6th, Murphy once again subbed in Larissa Preuitt for Ana Roman in right field.* Marlie Giles led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Jena Young. Audrey Vandagriff hit a sky high pop-up to left field. With two outs and a runner in scoring position, Preuitt grounded out to end the inning.
In the top of the 7th, Kentucky added to their lead when the leadoff hitter smacked a solo home run over the center field wall. It was the Wildcat batter’s second round-tripper of the season. The next three batters were retired without incident.
Down to their last three outs, Salen Hawkins doubled to open the final frame. Perhaps a little panic arose from Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson when she went to the bullpen after Sarah Haendiges had been tossing a spectacular game to that point. The new pitcher promptly threw a wild pitch that allowed Hawkins to advance to third base. Following a Johnson ground out, Pupillo walked and Lawson went back to her bullpen. The third UK pitcher of the inning gave up a sharp single to Brooke Wells that knocked Hawkins in and shrunk the ‘Cats lead to one run. After a walk to Ambrey Taylor, Giles hit a liner to the charging right fielder who appeared to make a shoestring catch. The umpire ruled it a catch and you really cannot blame the guy because by most accounts, it looked like a catch. Alabama challenged and upon replay, a bounce was detected from one side replay. The call was overturned and Giles was awarded a single with every runner moving up a base including the tying run. Young struck out for out number two which set up the dramatics.
With the bases jammed and two outs in a 4-4 game, Vandagriff showed off her blistering speed on a chopper to and beat the throw to first base as the walk-off winning run crossed home plate.
Audrey Vandagriff walks it off!#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/jJJXR8lXge
Just to show you how fast Vandagriff gets out of the box, check out where she is when this ball was fielded.