The No. 11 Alabama softball team’s bats cooled off when South Carolina’s heated up.

It wasn’t Alabama’s greatest performance, but it got the job done in a 4-3 win to sweep South Carolina to open SEC play. It was the only SEC sweep this weekend.

“Anyway, anyhow, we’ll take it,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said.

The Gamecocks had the tying run at third with two outs in the top of the seventh when Ashlyn Masters hit a ball into the outfield. Sophomore left fielder Kallie Case was there to make the catch.

“She made a heck of a catch, so it’s a great way to end it,” Murphy said.

(See also “Alabama softball team downs No. 9 Florida State, Houston in second day of Easton Crimson Classic“)

Case recently made the switch to outfield after playing in the infield last season.

“She’s like a Kayla Braud, second base short stop all her life, and obviously she’s got wheels, so that’s why we put her out there,” Murphy said. “She’s got instincts, and she’s fast.”

Senior Jaclyn Traina (7-2) pitched six innings and allowed five hits with three earned runs.

“I thought she was really good for six innings,” Murphy said. “To me, that was the best she’s looked all year.”

After loading the bases in the top of the seventh inning with no outs, Traina was taken out of the game in favor of freshman Sydney Littlejohn.

“I thought Jackie pitched as well as she had against Florida State except for the last inning. And you don’t pitch well for six innings, you pitch well for seven, and you dominate somebody for all seven innings,” Murphy said. “It’s nice though that you have a kid that can come in and do what Sydney did.”

(See also “Crimson Tide softball team takes both games in Friday’s doubleheader“)

Littlejohn earned her first save at Alabama. She came in with a 4-1 lead. A wild pitch that scored one followed by an RBI groundout put that lead in jeopardy.

“The team’s just so comforting, and they’re just like, ‘Syd, you got it. We’re depending on you,’ and I know I can depend on them,” Littlejohn said. “Kallie made an amazing play. It saved me. It did, but every single player out there can do that, and they will do that.”

Besides making the final out of the game, Case scored once and hit two RBI singles. She hit in sophomore Haylie McCleney from second in the first inning to give Alabama the first lead of the game.

“It’s really easy when Haylie gets on,” Case said. “It makes my job easier just to get the ball on the ground, and today I found a hole. I found two holes, so it worked in my favor today.”

Junior Jadyn Spencer had a sac fly in the first to score Case, and junior Danielle Richard hit a sac fly in the bottom of the third to plate senior Kaila Hunt.

Alabama (20-4, 3-0 SEC) will host Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

(See also “Softball team defeats UAB, continues winning streak“)