Alabama needed to get its offense going. On a cold Tuesday night at Rhoades Stadium, the lineup finally started to heat up.
The Crimson Tide (20-7) faced two early deficits, falling behind 1-0 and 3-2 in each of the first two innings, but fought back to win the game 10-5 to end a two-game losing streak.
“We came through in certain situations,” said senior Sydney Booker. “But we need to do that more often.”
Alabama’s offense loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs, but scored only two runs on a walk and an error with two outs in the inning.
“I want a double in the gap,” coach Patrick Murphy said. “I want an earned run. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
Bailey Hemphill’s three-run home run in the bottom of the second was the key hit for Alabama, giving it the lead for the first time in the night. It was her sixth home run of the season.
Booker, who struck out swinging to end the first inning, came back and had two big triples in the fourth and sixth innings for the Crimson Tide, tying a school record for the most in a single game.
She came into the game with a .189 batting average, but raised it to .256 after going 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“I really needed that,” Booker said. “It felt really good, I’ve been slumping really hard. It was nice.”
Demi Turner, another struggling player, went 2-for-3 in the game as well and raised her batting average to .250.
“She needed that big time,” Murphy said. “Demi the same way. I was really happy to see that.”
Madison Preston struggled early on. She allowed a run in the first inning and two more in the second before being pulled in favor of Courtney Gettins.
Preston faced just 12 batters. Six got on base, while three of them scored.
“It was just not her night,” Murphy said.
Gettins came in and gave Alabama the boost it needed. She retired eight straight hitters before a runner reached base on an error by Booker in the sixth inning.
She did run into some trouble in the seventh inning, but she was able to close out the Blazers and collect her eight win of the season.
With Alexis Osorio out indefinitely because of her concussion, the team is going to need more outings like this one from Gettins.
“She did her job tremendously,” Murphy said. “She stopped the bleeding and we got a couple hits. The home run was big. We took advantage of a couple of their errors.”
Alabama is back in action this weekend with a series against SEC rival Ole Miss. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Rhoads Stadium.
