After handing Virginia Tech a crushing 8-0 loss in five innings, Alabama struggled for five innings against University of Central Florida before pulling out a 8-3 win. It took some shifty base running to take the lead and a grand slam from Haylie McCleney to finish off the Knights in the second game. When Alabama entered the sixth inning, it was down 3-1. A double from Danielle Richard scored two runs and put the Crimson Tide even with UCF. A walk later, Jadyn Spencer was up to bat. She took second base after hitting into a fielder’s choice and a distracted infield. The throw to second was off, and Richards scored from third. “They had covered second base all night long, and for whatever reason, they didn’t that time so Jadyn was heads up, took off, I think the right fielder came in to try to cover because she saw everybody else wasn’t paying attention, and she threw it away, and it was heads up on Jadyn’s part, and it’s the little things that count,” head coach Patrick Murphy said. “That was the winning run.” Alabama had stranded six base runners between its first run in the first inning and the comeback in the sixth inning against UCF. In the fifth, the Crimson Tide left the bases loaded. It came down to the last out in the top of the sixth for Alabama to pull ahead. “I just think you learn from every at bat, and as the season progresses, you’re going to get better, and that’s the same for everyone,” Spencer said. “And one thing this team really preaches to each other and the coaches preach to us every day is, ‘Two outs, so what?’ You have to get three to end the inning so you’re never out of an inning until you have three outs.” Richard, who had five RBIs between the two games, has a 10-game hit streak. She averages .432 on the season. “I just step in there one at bat at a time, one pitch at a time, just trusting my swing, trusting just that I can do it, and my teammates are always helping me out … and I just think it’s one pitch at a time, one hit at a time, and try not to get too ahead of myself,” Richard said. McCleney started the day hitting .625 and ended hitting .629. Against Virginia Tech, she was 1-3, but she hit .750 against the Knights, including two doubles and the grand slam. “We did a great job of getting on base the entire game, and we just lacked a final punch, a final nail in the coffin, but we were all over their pitchers,” McCleney said. “We had them all night. We just needed that one extra hit, and for me to come up like that and just get a good hit, let alone a grand slam, it was something that’s really special.” Alabama (10-2) takes on Virginia Tech at 1:30 p.m. and UCF at 4 p.m. Saturday.