It was a cold afternoon game, but No. 4 Michigan’s bats stayed hot in its 8-2 downing of No. 5 Alabama.
Michigan strung together 11 hits over seven innings in Friday’s matchup. The Crimson Tide put up six in the loss, including a second-inning solo home run from senior infielder Danae Hays.
“They’re a good team. They’re a really good team, and they’ve got some good pitchers,” Hays said. “But I don’t know. I was just really excited to play tonight. I’ve watched Michigan play for a long time. Growing up, I always enjoyed watching them play so it was a lot of fun getting to actually play against them. So I was just really excited my first at-bat, and [Michigan pitcher Megan Betsa] threw me a good pitch, and I just took advantage of it.”
Michigan took a 2-0 lead following a two-run home run in the second inning. Alabama answered in the bottom half of the inning, putting up two from Hays’ home run and an RBI single from sophomore left fielder Chandler Dare.
Senior Leslie Jury (3-2) started for Alabama. She pitched seven innings, striking out five and walking three.
The Crimson Tide couldn’t produce more run support after the second as Michigan scored put two on the board in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. Alabama left 10 on base in the loss.
“It’s almost like a football game where you’re within a touchdown or two, you think you can still do it, but six runs is pretty hard, and they [Michigan] hit a couple good pitches, and they’re a good team,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “They’ve got a lot of older kids so we’ve just got to do a better job of sustaining an inning and keeping it going.”
Friday’s loss was the first time Feb. 13, 2010 against Missouri that the Crimson Tide lost its home opener.
“I hate it,” Hays said. “It makes me so mad. I just feel like these people pay to come in here and watch us, and they support us all year long, and for us to give them a showing like that, I hate that for them. But I can promise that tomorrow’s going to be a different team.”
Alabama (11-2) starts play on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Michigan and will take on James Madison at 4 p.m.
