On Tuesday afternoon, the No. 14 Alabama softball team competed in a midweek doubleheader in Huntington, West Virginia, as it matched up against the Liberty University Flames and the Marshall University Thundering Herd for the final two non-conference games of the season. 

The Crimson Tide put together a decent road trip as it came away with one victory over Marshall, but came up short against Liberty and split the doubleheader. 

No. 14 Alabama vs. Liberty 

For the first game of the afternoon, the Crimson Tide faced off against the Liberty Flames (29-15). However, a huge late inning by Liberty resulted in a 5-3 loss for the Crimson Tide. 

Alabama quickly put up a run on the board following a fielder’s choice ground ball by senior Jenna Johnson to bring home fellow senior Ally Shipman. Once again, the first inning attack by the Crimson Tide continues to be successful with putting up early runs. 

After a scoreless second inning, Liberty was able to respond with a couple of runs in the bottom of the third inning after a solo home run and a sacrifice bunt to take a 2-1 lead over Alabama, keeping the pressure on. 

However, head coach Patrick Murphy’s squad was able to fight back against the Flames in the fourth inning, as graduate student Ashley Prange stepped up to the plate with two outs and singled into center field to bring home freshman Marlie Giles to tie it up at two runs apiece. 

Adding onto the momentum, junior Bailey Dowling delivered a much-needed home run in the fifth inning to return fire against the Flames and take the lead back once again. 

Just as Alabama became comfortable with the lead, Liberty put together a huge three-run inning in the bottom of the fifth. After a walk and an infield error, the Flames had two runners on base for junior Caroline Hudson in which she proceeded to blast one over the left-field wall for a three-run home run to take a 5-3 lead over the Crimson Tide. 

After the big three-run blast, Alabama seemed to have run out of answers for the Flames as it would go three up, three down in the sixth and seventh innings to conclude the game and suffer the loss. 

No. 14 Alabama vs. Marshall 

For the second game of the Tuesday afternoon doubleheader, the Crimson Tide faced off against the Marshall Thundering Herd (36-5). This time around, Alabama was able to pick up a victory as it defeated the Thundering Herd 3-1 to end the road trip. 

This matchup began as the definition of a pitcher’s duel. Both teams were desperately trying to get runners on base and came up short every time. Neither team was able to pick up a hit until the third inning when Ashley Prange picked up a single for the Crimson Tide, but her teammates were not able to follow suit in the inning and it would remain scoreless. 

The game stayed notched at zero until a crucial sixth inning for Alabama. Shipman led off the inning successfully with a double to left field. Momentum continued to carry on throughout the lineup as Dowling drilled a two-run shot to left field to take a big 2-0 lead for Alabama. 

However, the scoring did not stop there for Murphy’s team as freshman Larissa Preuitt was able to put a ball in play, resulting in an error that caused her to reach first base and bring home senior Faith Hensley to take a commanding 3-0 lead over Marshall. 

The Thundering Herd had a chance to respond to the three-run outburst by Alabama in the sixth and seventh innings but was only able to scratch across one run, and it would be too little, too late, for Marshall and the Crimson Tide would take a 3-1 victory to conclude the road trip in Huntington. 

Alabama softball will be back at home on Friday, April 21, for a highly anticipated weekend series against the Auburn Tigers, starting at 8 p.m. CT.