Alabama’s pitching gave the Crimson Tide every opportunity to win both games against Louisiana-Lafayette. After taking the first game 5-1, Alabama couldn’t get its offense going in the second and fell 2-1.

“I think that we had the same amount of opportunities in the second game that we did in the first game,” junior centerfielder Haylie McCleney said. “I just don’t think we capitalized on them as well. You know, in the sixth and seventh inning of the second game, we just didn’t execute like we had been all day up to that point.”

The Crimson Tide stranded runners on second and third base in both the sixth and seventh innings of the second game. In the sixth, Alabama had runners on second and third with one out and couldn’t score. 

In the seventh inning, the Crimson Tide had runners on first and second with no outs. The first out didn’t advance the runners but the second, a groundout from sophomore outfielder Chandler Dare, moved the runners to second and third for the top of the lineup. McCleney grounded out to end the game.

“You get five shots to either tie it or win it, and you hope that somebody comes through,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “And I think next time, any of those five [batters] will come through.”

Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (5-2) struck out 12 in the 2-1 loss. She allowed four hits, one of which was a solo home run in the top of the fourth. Two hits came in the fifth when Louisiana-Lafayette took a 2-1 lead. Osorio also walked six batters. 

“Lexi, I gotta keep reminding myself that she’s a freshman,” Murphy said. “This is only like her sixth or seventh start, and Sydney [Littlejohn] really didn’t have many starts last year. This is only like her [sixth] start this year so between both of them, I’m really happy with them.” 

Sophomore right-hander Littlejohn (6-0) threw her fourth complete game of the year in the 5-1 win. She allowed three hits, walked three and struck out five. She had a no-hitter working into the top of the sixth when she allowed a single and an RBI double. 

Alabama strung together seven hits in its 5-1 win. Sophomore infielder Marisa Runyon hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. Two innings later, senior infielder Danae Hays hit a solo home run to tack on a final run in the win.

“We don’t really rely on the long ball I think, but it’s always nice to have ‘cause when you score runs that quickly it’s really nice,” McCleney said. 

The loss on Saturday was Alabama’s third home loss of the year. The other two came against Michigan to open the Easton Bama Bash.

“They’re a really good team,” McCleney said. “We don’t want to lose on Sunday. That’s one of the big mottos this team has is ‘Champions win on Sunday’ and we’re going to be champions every time we step on the field on Sunday. We don’t get beat so we’re going to come out here tomorrow and give it absolutely everything we have because we know we can beat them. We proved that the first game.”

Alabama (14-4) will face Louisiana-Lafayette (15-1) for the series’ rubber match at 1 p.m. on Sunday.