Alabama softball responded to a disappointing weekend series defeat to Georgia with back-to-back victories over Samford and UAB on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
The Crimson Tide wasted no time jumping on the Samford Bulldogs in the second inning with a three-run outburst. Three different players pushed runs across, with catcher Riley Valentine and left fielder Jenna Johnson finding holes down the line and right fielder Larissa Preuitt grounding out.
Scoring three in one inning wasn’t enough as the Crimson Tide added three more in the third inning to make it 6-0. Valentine picked up her second RBI of the game while third baseman Bailey Dowling and designated player Kendal Clark roasted two balls up the middle for RBI singles.
“We were just talking about the process a lot and just trusting that the next game it might happen, next game it’s going to happen, and just keeping that mindset,” Clark said. “So just having that process, that mindset, to just trust it.”
Looking for the gut punch in the fourth, Alabama’s five runs hit the mark. Clark and shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan both doubled in a pair of runs while Preuitt capped things off with a two-run double of her own to take an 11-2 lead.
“I was really happy with, up and down the lineup, people putting the ball in play,” head coach Patrick Murphy said. “That was big.”
Freshman Jocelyn Briski, still nursing a shoulder injury, looked 100% during her five innings in the circle. She posted a seven-strikeout, two-hit performance over Samford. Briski showed off her stamina by coming back the next day against UAB. Entering a tie game at 3-3, she shut out the Blazers for the rest of the game, including five straight strikeouts to close the game.
“Control was really good, hitting her spots, ball was moving. She’s tough to hit when she does that,” Murphy said. “She just kept rolling, so we just stuck with her.”
On the offensive side of Wednesday night’s game, it was the Jenna Johnson show against a familiar foe. During her sophomore year, Johnson and company played host to the Blazers, and she tragically injured her kneecap. Wednesday evening, though, Johnson received another opportunity to take on UAB.
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the third — the first time Alabama has trailed against UAB since February of 2017 — Johnson sparked the offense with her first opposite-field home run of the year.
“My first at-bat, I didn’t make the adjustment I wanted to, and that was something I wanted to be intentional about at bat,” Johnson said. “I was really letting it get deep driving it to the opposite.”
Later in that inning, Cahalan slapped a single up the middle that scored two to tie the game up at 3-3.
Johnson stepped up to the plate once again in the bottom of the sixth with the score still tied at three and a runner on second. She slapped a single up the middle to score the eventual game-winning run as Alabama defeated UAB 4-3.
“It was kind of a full-circle moment. God writes crazy stories, and that was one of them, being able to play them again,” Johnson said. “Getting to have some game-changing hits was really special to me.”
Alabama will enjoy its bye week from SEC play by playing host to No. 12 Virginia Tech on Friday and Saturday.
“Well-coached, very good, a couple of really good pitchers,” Murphy said of Virginia Tech. “It’s going to be like an SEC weekend.”
