For the first time in nearly two seasons, the Alabama softball team was handed a home loss by a nonconference opponent. McNeese State ended the Crimson Tide’s run at a perfect record in the Easton Bama Bash. The last nonconference home loss came April 17, 2012, to Georgia State.
“I think some of [the players] were overanxious, especially when we got down, maybe not the best pitch,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “And then when you get down, you get a little anxious, and you’re going to start swinging at anything that comes up there, and I think a couple of them do that. You’ve got to stay within yourself, just realize the situation, get on base however way you can, and pass down the baton to the next girl, and I thought we were going to do that in the seventh.”
No. 9 Alabama (12-3) stranded 11 baserunners Sunday. In the end, the team couldn’t pull out a win despite starting to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning.
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“[McNeese State is] a very good team, a sound team, and we knew that going in,” Murphy said. “They just put the ball in play when they needed to. … They capitalized on who they got on because I think they only had three left on [base].”
Now, the Crimson Tide turns its attention to the UAB Blazers as it travels to Birmingham on Tuesday.
The UAB game is something of a home game for Alabama, at least for sophomore Haylie McCleney and junior Danae Hays.
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“It’s so special for me and Danae both to get to play in Birmingham at UAB,” McCleney said. “We know a lot of girls on the team, and obviously all of our family and friends come … Going to Birmingham is definitely, it’s a home trip for us. It’s nice to play in front of everyone that you know. It feels like we’re back in high school again. It’s fun.”
The team won’t have a home-field advantage despite having a 14-0 series record against the Blazers. UAB always plays well against Alabama, senior Kaila Hunt said.
“It’s kind of like their World Series, Murph always tells us,” Hunt said. “Because we’re 45 minutes away, a lot of the kids are probably Alabama fans, not necessarily our fans, but they’re fans of the school, and so they always play great against us. So we cannot play how we played [Sunday] against them, because they will beat us because it’s a huge game for them.”
The last time Alabama played at UAB, the Crimson Tide won 8-4. The Blazers (3-7) are coming off an 11-inning loss to No. 19 South Alabama.
Still, the Tide views the Blazers like any other opponent.
“It is what it is,” sophomore Leona Lafaele said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. What we’re looking at is beating them, pitch by pitch, inning by inning, play by play. UAB’s no different from McNeese like UAB’s no different from Oklahoma. UAB is UAB, and we’re going to come with our A-game no matter who it is. We’ve just got to keep stringing them together and get better.”
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