Alabama softball got the production it needed from the middle of the lineup. A home run, three sacrifice flies and a two-run single put six runs on the board for No. 5 Alabama in the 6-1 win over Lipscomb to close out the Easton Bama Bash.
Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (5-1) earned the win after seven innings pitched. She allowed two hits, struck out four and walked three. The last hit came with two outs in the seventh when three fielders collided while trying to get the final out. The hitter was tagged out at second after she attempted to advance on the play.
“Everything was basically working for me,” Osorio said. “I had a little bit of a struggle in the beginning, but towards the end of the game, I started finding my stuff.”
The only run Lipscomb scored came after a two-out walk in the bottom of the third. An RBI-single in the next at-bat put Lipscomb even with the Crimson Tide after three innings.
“The only really negative for me was the 0-2 walk,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “She had the girl 0-2. She walks. She steals. She scores. That’s it. Otherwise, she’d have a shutout or probably a one-hitter or maybe a no-hitter.”
Alabama’s offense was led by senior utility player Danielle Richard on her senior day. Richard tied a career-high RBI mark with four. She hit 1-for-1 with two sacrifice flies and had a two-run single in the win.
“When you get into that situation where you need to score a runner, it’s just about getting in there and doing it,” Richard said. “I thought everyone did a really great job of somehow trying to get the runners in whether a ground ball, sac fly, bunt, whatever it is.”
The Crimson Tide used six of its seven hits to score. Alabama took a lead in the third inning and again in the fourth where it scored two. The team scored two in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead and put the final run across in the seventh in the 6-1 win.
Alabama’s seven hits came from five different players sprinkled throughout the lineup. Sophomore outfielder Chandler Dare went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. She scored twice. Junior centerfielder Haylie McCleney went 2-for-3. She hit a single and a triple and was walked once. Senior catcher Chaunsey Bell went 1-for-3 with a home run in the third inning. She scored two with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Junior Andrea Hawkins pinch hit in the top of the sixth. In her one at-bat, she singled.
Dare and Richard were named to the all-tournament team.
Alabama finished the weekend 2-2 following two consecutive losses to No. 4 Michigan. The Crimson Tide (13-3) will head to Jacksonville State (9-6) on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
