Roll Tide Nation

“You can’t win them all.”
~ Connie Mack

No. 3 Crimson Tide finally succumbed to Lady Loss, dropping the finale of a three-game set in College Station. But fret not. This is softball. It is near impossible to go through a college softball undefeated. Despite the defeat, the real highlights came in the first two games in which Alabama pummeled the Aggies into a pair of run-rule games.

FRIDAY

Alabama 13 Texas A&M 3 (6 innings)

The balls were flying out of the park in the opener as four different Tide players went yard. Bailey Hemphill had a three run shot in the opening frame. Claire Jenkins smoked a solo four-bagger two innings later. Merris Schroder led off the fifth with a moonshot. And Skylar Wallace rounded out the scoring with a 3-RBI round-tripper in the sixth. Bama collected 12 hits on the night with every starter getting at least one hit and one run. Montana Fouts got her 12th win in 5 innings pitched yielding only 3 hits, two runs and 10 strikeouts.

SATURDAY

Alabama 11 Texas A&M 1 (5 innings)

One way to keep Alabama from getting so many hits is walking them (11) and committing errors (3). Game 2 was another short affair with the game halted after 5 innings for the Mercy rule after the Tide battered the Aggies with 11 runs on only 5 hits. Alabama was the beneficiary of one earned and three unearned runs in the first. The Tide tallied up two more home runs, one by Schroder to lead-off the third inning and one by GUESS WHO! Hemphill who stroked a grand slam (her second of the season) later in the same inning. The Aggs managed to push one across in the fourth but this Crimson Tide team has an amazing aptitude for striking back in the next frame after a foe scores and did so again in the top of the fifth for their 11th run on the day. Schroder was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI, HR, and a stolen base. Sarah Cornell (W, 12-0) went 4 and a third innings with Krystal Goodman getting the last two outs.

* 33-0 is the best start by any school in SEC history.

Happy Monday, everyone. The softball team came up just short of the national record for consecutive victories to open a season, losing on a game three walk-off in College Station. The ladies sit at 33-1 with a consensus top five ranking, though the rest of the SEC schedule is daunting. As Roger already told you, baseball took one of three from an excellent Arkansas squad, and the Gym Tide placed third at the SEC Championships and will move on to NCAA regionals, seeding to be announced today.

Of course, most of the buzz surrounds the now officially open men’s basketball coaching position.

Do you go for another veteran looking to get back in the game, a Fred Hoiberg or Thad Matta? Do you go the alumni route with Iowa State’s Steve Prohm? Do you try to raise enough money (see above under “buyout”) to convince a major college coach with a good gig to move? That’s a hard thing to do in college football or basketball, unless you are talking a Jimbo Fisher compensation package? Do you play what is, for want of a better term, Mid-Major Roulette?

Are there any guarantees with “the guy at Buffalo” (Nate Oats) or “the guy at Wofford” (Mike Young) or “the guy at Liberty” (Ritchie McKay)? Would they adjust well to the SEC, or would there be a learning curve and a chance of being in the same boat four years from now?

It would certainly be nice to get someone who has some staying power. Seems like only yesterday that people were buckling their seat belts for the first time. Cecil seemed to tease the fanbase a bit on Twitter last night.

The Alabama Crimson Tide had a mixed bag of play over the weekend when the hosted eighth ranked Arkansas at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Razorbacks won on Friday night by a 12-3 score before the Tide bounced back for a 10-0 whitewashing on Saturday. With the series on the line the Hogs bounced back and dispensed of the Tide 10-2. Bama falls to 19-6 overall and 2-4 in the SEC. Arkansas improves to 20-4, 5-1 in the SEC. The Hogs are a legitimate College World Series contender, with talent up and down the roster.

Game One: Lost 12-3

Friday night matched Arkansas ace Isaiah Campbell against the Tides Sam Finnerty. Both have been outstanding all year, but with different styles. Campbell is a big, strong, downhill thrower at 6’4” 235 pounds. In 30 innings entering the game he had walked only four batters and struck out 44. Finnerty is a savvy, veteran, and relies more on guile than on overpowering stuff. While Campbell touches mid 90’s with his fastball, Finnerty is more likely to sit around the 88-91 mph with his fastball.

In his two seasons as the Tide’s Friday night Finnerty you can almost always count on five to seven solid innings, with the team still in the game when he exists. On Friday night the Razorbacks had a different idea. Sophomore right fielder, Heston Kjerstad, a Freshman All American last season, touched Finnerty for a first inning home run to give the Hogs an early 1-0 lead. Things fell apart in the top of the second inning when Arkansas used five singles, a double, and a hit batter to plate six runs and put the game out of reach early. Finnerty was hit for two more doubles and one run in the third, before gutting his way through the fourth inning before leaving, on the wrong end of an 8-0 deficit.

In the bottom of the fifth the Tide looked to make a game of it when they loaded the bases on a John Trousdale single, a walk to Kolby Robinson, and a single by Kobe Morris. A long fly out by Joe Breaux ended the threat. Casey Cobb relieved Finnerty and ate four important innings up, saving the bullpen for the rest of the series. In his final inning of work, Cobb gave up a two run home run to Jacob Nesbit to stretch the lead to 10-0. Freshman Dylan Smith pitched the ninth for the Tide and was touched for two runs on three hits.