OKLAHOMA CITY — Chandler Dare might be the shortest player on Alabama’s roster. She’s listed at 5-foot-2, along with senior Danielle Richard. The sophomore outfielder might not be that tall.
Dare didn’t have to be the biggest player on the team to get the biggest hit of the day in No. 6 Alabama softball’s 2-1 win over No. 2 Oregon.
With two outs and runners at second and third in the bottom of the second inning, Dare singled into right field, bringing two runs home.
“I was just saying, ‘See it down, see it down and see it in my zone,’ and happened to get that pitch and drove it,” Dare said.
Dare finished 2-for-2 with a double. She had two of Alabama’s three hits. The other player to hit was Richard, who doubled to set up Dare’s two-run single.
Oregon left-hander Cheridan Hawkins (30-5) allowed three hits. She walked three batters, including Alabama centerfielder Haylie McCleney twice — once intentionally. She struck out seven. Sophomore Marisa Runyon struck out twice before making contact with a ball that looked to have the distance before dying in the air for a high fly out to center.
“Lefty versus lefty that really worried me, and of course the little lefty [Dare] gets a double and two RBIs and a single so it was much better than Thursday night,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy.
Freshman right-hander Alexis Osorio (22-9) bested the Pac-12 Champions in seven innings. She allowed three hits and one run. She walked two, hit one and struck out nine two days after giving up five runs to Michigan.
Five of her nine strikeouts came in the last two innings. The last two outs of the game were strikeouts.
“Pretty much my curve and backdoor curve were working really well today,” Osorio said. “I was moving it off the plate. Me and Steph [Alabama pitching coach Stephanie VanBrakle] had a game plan that we were going to work back and off the plate. We weren’t going to give anybody anything too sweet for them to hit, and my rise ball came in handy when I really needed it.”
After allowing a run in the third, Osorio found herself in some trouble following a walk and a hit batter that loaded the bases in the top of the fourth. A groundout ended the inning.
Past the fourth, the Ducks only had one batter reach base, leadoff Janie Takeda. Takeda was caught stealing after she slid past second.
With the win, Alabama (48-14) moves on to face 5-seed LSU (51-13) in an elimination game at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN. The winner of that game will play No. 3 Michigan on Sunday in the Women’s College World Series semifinal.
