No. 4 Alabama softball didn’t have one explosive inning. It scored at least one run in every inning en route to a 9-1 mercy-rule win over Georgia State.
Alabama was power by the top of the order. Junior centerfielder Haylie McCleney, freshman second baseman Demi Turner and senior shortstop Danae Hays combined for seven of Alabama’s 11 hits.
“It’s a different person every night which is a cool thing,” McCleney said. “Danae came up clutch right from the beginning, the first inning. We scored two runs, pounced on them. You saw [senior] Jadyn [Spencer] have some great at-bats tonight. You saw [Danielle Richard] come in and have the game-winning RBI as a pinch-hitter so I think as a whole, everybody’s contributing and that’s what we want to see.”
Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (9-2) earned her fourth straight win after four scoreless innings. She allowed three hits and struck out three.
Over the weekend, Osorio earned two wins on the road. She kept No. 8 Georgia to 11 hits over 15 innings pitched.
“The thing with that series was it was back-to-back with Saturday and Sunday so she didn’t get a day of rest in between, and [former Alabama pitcher] Jackie [Traina] always got the day of rest, and for her to come back, I think she threw like [153] pitches on Saturday and then throw [112] on Sunday and win both games is impressive,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said.
Senior right-hander Leslie Jury came in to pitch in the top of the fifth. She allowed a leadoff home run before retiring the next two batters. She walked one and gave up a single. Georgia State loaded the bases on a drop-third strike. Jury struck out the final batter to end the fifth.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Crimson Tide invoked the mercy rule after plating two. McCleney, Turner and Hays hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning. Hays’ single sent McCleney home for the 8-1 lead. Senior Danielle Richard hit a ground ball to the short stop who threw it home to try to get the out at home. Turner slid under the tag at home to score the final run.
Alabama (21-5, 5-1 SEC) hosts No. 2 Florida (28-2, 1-2 SEC) for a three-game series beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.
