The No. 2 Alabama softball team pushed its winning streak against Auburn to 17 in a doubleheader Tuesday. Alabama won the first game 4-2 and the second game 5-2.
Jackie Traina pitched both games in the doubleheader, allowing a combined five hits between the two games.
Head coach Patrick Murphy spoke highly of Traina’s level of play, saying her endurance is just part of her nature.
“I thought Jackie was great both games,” Murphy said. “We had about a 50 minute wait, and about 10-15 minutes into it I went over and said, ‘Are you ok? You feel good?’ She goes, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ And I said, ‘Well, I might start you again,’ and she said that’s fine. That’s just her. I thought she did great both games. She just kept going on. She did a good job.”
After a quick two-run homer by Cassie Reilly-Boccia in the first inning of the first game, the Tide jumped out to a 2-0 lead. A walk and two defensive errors would bring Auburn to 2-1 in the second inning.
In the sixth, a home run by Amanda Locke and an RBI single from Ryan Iamurri gave Alabama a 4-1 lead.
After retiring 15 consecutive batters, Traina gave up a home run with one out left in the bottom of the seventh inning, ending her no-hitter. Traina then retired the next batter to give Alabama the 4-2 win.
Traina, who combined for more than 200 pitches on the night, was critical of the one hit she allowed in the game.
“You can’t let it happen,” Traina said. “That last inning, two outs, I let up a home run, but I have a great team, a great defense behind me.”
In game two, Auburn’s ace pitcher Jenne Loree held off the Tide in the early innings. Danae Hays started the scoring for the Tide in the fourth inning with an RBI single, scoring Kaila Hunt. With the Tide up 1-0 and two outs left in the inning, Auburn brought in Angel Bunner to relieve Loree.
The Tide scored two more runs in the fourth: Courtney Conley scored on a throwing error, and Keima Davis scored on a double by Kayla Braud to take a 3-0 lead. Hunt followed up with a solo home run in the fifth to put the Tide up 4-0.
Traina continued to assert her dominance on the mound. After giving up one hit in the first inning, Traina held steady until the fifth, when the Tigers got three hits and two runs to narrow the Tide’s lead to 4-2. After that, Traina shut the door on the Tigers. She didn’t allow any runs or hits for the rest of the night.
“They [were] only two runs behind us in the last game and I was like, this can’t happen,” Traina said. “I’m just helping my team out as much as I can.”
Another home run by Hunt in the top of the seventh gave Alabama a permanent 5-2 lead.
After struggling in the past few games, Hunt said Traina’s performance motivated the team.
“Jackie’s out there pitching her butt off,” Hunt said. “She pitched 14 innings and it makes you want to do something for her because she’s doing something for you. You’ve got to support her, you’ve got to score some runs for her.”
