Alabama softball’s offense gashed through Texas A&M, and the Aggies couldn’t stop the bleeding. 

Texas A&M tried to staunch the flow of hits and runs. Three pitchers tried. Three pitchers failed as the Crimson Tide raced to a 13-0 win in the series’ opener.

It started with a leadoff home run to center from senior Danielle Richard.

“It fires everyone up and it really sets the tone for the entire night,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “And then after that, it was just kind of piling on.”

Alabama did. The Crimson Tide put up 11 hits over four innings in the 13-run win. The only inning Alabama didn’t score was the second when it went down in order. In the third and fourth innings, the offense batted around and put up 10 of the 13 runs.

Murphy said he was proud of the team for sticking to the game plan. The team needed to make the Aggies’ starter Rachel Fox bring the ball up and not fish after low balls. Fox pitched 2.1 innings before she was pulled. 

“The goal was to get her out of the game and we did that,” Murphy said.

Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (11-3) put in five innings of shutout work in the mercy-rule win. She gave up three hits and had eight strikeouts and one walk.

It was her second straight win. She hasn’t allowed an earned run in 20.2 innings pitched.

“When she’s on the mound, I know she’s going to get it done because she just has that fearless, like, ‘Let’s go. I’m about to strike you out’ attitude, and I love it. It’s awesome,” Richard said.

No. 5 Alabama (24-7, 7-3 SEC) will face No. 23 Texas A&M (24-8, 6-4 SEC) for the second game of the series Saturday at 2 p.m.