No. 6 Alabama softball needed a hero. Alabama got a hero.
In front of a capacity crowd of 3,940, sophomore Marisa “Home” Runyon hit two home runs, had an RBI groundout and a two-run double for a grand total of seven RBI in the 10-3 win over No. 12 Tennessee.
“[The ball looks] like a beach ball right now,” Runyon said. “It does feel pretty good just getting a good pitch to hit, and I know first game we played them I didn’t have the best day at the plate so I wanted to come out and make a statement in the last game.”
Her seven-RBI performance was the most for Alabama in a single game since Feb. 13, 2008. It is the fifth time a player has had at least seven RBI in a single game.
“She does that all the time in practice, seriously, and it’s so much fun for a coach to see a kid take what she does in practice and bring it to the game,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “When she gets done in batting practice, the Brickyard looks just like that [covered in trash], but with balls, littered everywhere and it’s after her round.”
Runyon hit her 13th home run of the season in the bottom of the first, a two-run shot to put Alabama up 2-0. In the bottom of the fourth, she hit another two-run home run, her team-leading 14th home run. Her home run was part of a four-run fourth inning where sophomore outfielder Chandler Dare hit an RBI fielder’s choice. Junior Andrea Hawkins pinch-hit an RBI-single for the last run of the inning.
In the fifth, Runyon added an RBI on a groundout, and in the sixth she hit a two-run single to put Alabama up 10-3.
Alabama had 13 hits and left five on base. Four players had multi-hit games. Hawkins went 2-for-2 with two RBI. Junior centerfielder Haylie McCleney, who hadn’t had a hit all series, went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Senior utility Jadyn Spencer went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. She went 5-for-8 over the weekend.
“Up and down the lineup, I thought it was a fun day,” Murphy said.
Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (15-7, 1.83 ERA) earned the win after 4 2/3 innings pitched. She allowed three runs, two of which were earned. She walked four and struck out six.
With the bases loaded in the top of the fifth and two runs already in, Alabama turned to senior right-hander Leslie Jury to get the final out. After nearly an hour of a weather delay, Jury struck out the next batter in five pitches to end Tennessee’s rally.
Jury pitched 2 1/3 innings to notch her third save of the season. She walked two and struck out three.
“The tandem of those two [Osorio and Jury] was really good today,” Murphy said. “Totally different kids so I think that messes up the batters.”
With the win, Alabama (38-11, 14-7 SEC) took the series over Tennessee (36-13, 12-9 SEC). The Crimson Tide will finish the season in Fayetteville against Arkansas (15-31, 1-18 SEC) in a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
