Alabama’s home-opener weekend of SEC softball featured many ups and downs for the Crimson Tide.

Without the services of ace Alexis Osorio, No. 15 Alabama took two of three from Ole Miss, including a 3-2 walk-off victory on Sunday.

Alabama (22-8, 3-3 SEC) trailed Ole Miss (16-12, 2-7 SEC) for the entire ballgame Sunday with starter Courtney Gettins allowing two runs in the first two innings.

Gettins settled in after a shaky first two innings and shut the Rebels’ offense down.

She pitched seven complete innings, allowed six hits and struck out four.

“Really proud of her,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “We had an inkling that Lexi wasn’t going to pitch. [Gettins] took the ball and threw really, really well in both games. No walks today, that’s been her negative thing.”

Kaylee Tow hit a home run in the third inning to cut the Ole Miss lead in half, but the Alabama offense struggled. It was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position headed into the seventh inning.

Sydney Booker led the seventh with a double and was followed up by Claire Jenkins being hit by a pitch. 

Elissa Brown, who had been called out for leaving the box too early twice before in the game, dropped down a bunt and reached first safely to load the bases.

“I knew that I was bunting, my mindset was ‘just go slow through the box this time,’” Brown said. “It worked. I knew it was a really big-time situation for me to step up for this team.”

Two hitters later, Bailey Hemphill delivered the game winning two-run single to win the game and the series for Alabama.

“I got the adrenaline going,” Hemphill said. “I wanted to come through for the team, just get one run to tie it up at least. Luckily Elissa was on second to get that winning run for us.”

Hemphill had no doubt that Brown would score easily from second.

Alabama’s bats were on fire in the series opener Friday night. The team tied a season-high in runs with its 13-1 victory. This was the highest Alabama has scored in an SEC game since it scored 16 runs against Missouri in 2016.

“It’s like what they told us, ‘wave after wave after wave,’” senior Demi Turner said. “And once you get that wave going, it’s hard to stop it.”

The Crimson Tide offense scored one run in the first, four in the third and eight runs in the fourth inning.

“It started with Bailey coming back and hitting that bomb,” Murphy said. “And then it kind of snowballed from there. Everybody in the lineup got at least one hit.”

Brown led the charge for the Crimson Tide offense. She had three hits in the game, including a triple and a bunt single. Brown scored from first base on the bunt when the Rebels’ defense committed a throwing error.

Brown, a center fielder, also made a diving catch on a ball just short of the infield. She was most impressed with the defensive gem.

“We work on those balls every day in practice,” Brown said. “I originally called it, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it or not. I went for it and got it, it was a lot of fun. Tonight (Friday) I was not going to let any balls drop, that was the plan and I went with it.”

Gettins gave up hits to the first two hitters she faced and walked the third. Only four base runners, three coming in the fifth inning, reached for the Rebels the rest of the night.

“The first inning was the key,” Murphy said. “She got out of it. She made the pitches when she needed to. She did great after that.”

The wins on Friday and Sunday improved Gettins to 10-2 on the season with a 1.71 ERA.

Saturday was the lone loss of the series for Alabama, as it lost the game 10-3. 

Ole Miss scored five runs in the first off starter Madison Preston and the team never recovered.

“We can’t let the five runs stop us from scoring,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to do something in the box to help her. I think the score got to us.”

The first inning also featured confusion. On a grounder hit to second, Demi Turner threw out the runner at the plate. Catcher Reagan Dykes threw the ball to second and Sydney Booker tagged out the runner advancing to second.

The double play ended the inning, but the umpires got together and after both coaches pleaded their case, the umpires determined Booker had dropped the ball and the runner was safe at second, the runner from third scored and Ole Miss continued the inning with a 3-0 lead.

The next hitter, who came in to the game hitting .038,  hit a two-run home to make it a 5-0 game.

“Flush it,” Murphy said. “She can’t let it get to her. She pitched great at Auburn. She’s had really good games. Unfortunately, that’s the life of a freshman pitcher.”

Turner was honored before the game on Saturday for her senior day. She collected two hits in the loss.

Alabama returns to action next Friday at 5 p.m. in Lexington against the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats.