There was never a dull moment in the seven-inning slugfest between Alabama and Mississippi State on Sunday. The game came down to the last out in the bottom of the seventh before the Crimson Tide pulled out the win 9-8 on a walk-off single.
“That’s a sign of growing up, too, as a team,” head coach Patrick Murphy said. “In March, we might not have done what we did today. We have so many new kids and younger kids playing. I think it’s a credit to the seniors because I think that other people look to them first, and when they seem like it’s okay, everybody else reacts the same way. I don’t think our seniors panicked, and then that trickles down to everybody else on the team.”
Jackie Traina started in the circle for the Tide and pitched six complete innings, allowing 10 hits and striking out nine batters. She left in the top of the seventh with no decision. Leslie Jury (15-3) earned the win after pitching a complete inning and striking out her last two batters.
Alabama scored six runs in the first two innings to take a 6-1 lead. Mississippi State rallied and tied it up after scoring five combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Haylie McCleney hit a two-run home run just out of the reach of Mississippi State’s right fielder.
“We had been going back and forth all game, us and Mississippi State,” McCleney said. “We were just fighting back and forth, and I think that at bat was just personified by it. I’d been struggling off her. My first at bat, I popped out to center field, and I was just thinking, ‘Hit the ball low and hard, ground ball up the middle,’ and she ended up throwing me one over the plate. I got really excited and just hit it hard.”
The Bulldogs tied it up again with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, forcing Jury to take the mound for Traina.
“That’s the mark of a good team is when another kid comes in and has her back,” Murphy said. “Leslie [Jury] pitched lights out that last inning and gave us a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh, and that’s what a good teammate does.”
Danae Hays hit a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to score pinch-runner Jordan Patterson from third.
“We had a runner at third and second, and all I was trying to do was get a base hit up the middle or at least put it on the ground in the five-six hole,” Hays said. “The ball looked like … a beach ball. I think it was an off-speed pitch. I’m not real sure, but I think it was off-speed. I just squared up on it good and got it through the infield, which is what I wanted.”
The team looks to continue its two game win streak when it travels to Baton Rouge, La. to face LSU in a three-game series Thursday through Saturday.
