Alabama
Arkansas
Alabama Softball Opens SEC Play Against Arkansas This Weekend in Tuscaloosa
3/9/2017 2:36:00 PM | Softball
THIS WEEKEND
NO. 11/9 Alabama (21-2) vs. No. RV/24 Arkansas (19-1)
Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Rhoads Stadium
- Friday, March 9 - 6:30 p.m. CT
- Saturday, March 10 - 5 p.m. CT (SECÂ Network)
- Sunday, March 11 - 1:30 p.m. CT
FOLLOWING THE TIDE
- Video:
- Saturday - SEC Network
- Friday/Sunday - SEC Network+ (Online Only)
- Radio: 93.3 FM (praise933.com)
- Live Stats: rolltide.com
- Twitter: @AlabamaSB
SCOUTING NO. 11/9 ALABAMAÂ (21-2)
- Alabama stretched its current winning streak to 14 games with a pair of midweek wins this week, defeating Loyola, 5-0, on Tuesday and Valparaiso, 1-0, on Wednesday.
- Tide pitching leads the SEC in opposing batting average (.136), strikeouts (236) and wins (21). Individually, Sydney Littlejohn leads the league in ERA (0.24) while Alexis Osorio leads the NCAA with 140 strikeouts. Osorio and Littlejohn are ranked first and fifth, respectively, in the SEC in opposing batting average at .081 and .142.
- Sophomore Merris Schroder is ranked 10th in the SEC with a .453 batting average while freshman Bailey Hemphill is tied for sixth with five home runs and is ninth with 21 RBIs. The pair are back-to-back in slugging percentage, with Hemphill in fourth at .824 and Schroder in fifth at .792.
- Alabama is in the midst of a 12-game home stand, which continues this weekend and ends with a doubleheader at Rhoads Stadium next Wednesday.
- Alexis Osorio was named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week, her second weekly conference award of the season.
THE OPPONENT
Arkansas Razorbacks
- Southeastern Conference
- 2017 Record: 19-1
- Head Coach: Courtney Deifel (Second Season)
- Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 18/7
- Newcomers: 11
Arkansas Stat Leaders
- Batting Avg. - Nicole Schroeder - .526
- Hits - Nicole Schroeder - 30
- Home Runs - Nicole Schroeder - 12
- Wins - Autumn Storms - 8
- ERA - Autumn Storms - 1.06
- Strikeouts - Grace Moll – 51
ALL-TIME VS. THE OPPONENT
53-8 vs. Arkansas
- Current Streak: Alabama 7
- First Meeting: March 14, 1997 - L, 1-9 (5) - Fayetteville, Ark.
- Last Meeting: May 3, 2015 - W, 1-0 - Fayetteville, Ark.
- Last Meeting in Tuscaloosa: April 5, 2014 - W, 4-3
LAST TIME OUT: ALABAMA DEFEATS LOYOLA AND VALPARAISO
- Alabama 5, Loyola 0: After a 90-minute rain delay to start the game, Alabama softball needed just two hours to shut out Loyola Chicago, 5-0, and earn its 20th win of the season. Alabama scored in five of the six innings it came to bat while Loyola-Chicago struggled to even make contact against Crimson Tide starter Alexis Osorio, who struck out 18 and allowed just one hit in the complete-game shutout. It is her third game of the season with at least 18 strikeouts, now owning three of the five such performances in Alabama softball history. On offense, six of the Tide's nine starters got a hit, led by Peyton Grantham with a 2-2 performance.
- Alabama 1, Valparaiso 0: Runs were at a premium Wednesday night at Rhoads Stadium, as an unassuming run in the first inning ultimately made all the difference in a narrow 1-0 victory for Alabama softball over Valparaiso. Alabama scored its lone run of the day on what would have been an RBI groundout, though a Valparaiso error on the play allowed the hitter to reach safely. That proved the only tally for either team, who were evenly matched with four hits apiece. Crimson Tide starter Sydney Littlejohn and the Alabama defense got out of some late jams, leaving four baserunners stranded as Littlejohn struck out a career-high 13 in the complete-game win. Valparaiso starter Ashlyn Montgomery also went the distance, allowing the lone run on four hits and two walks.
ALABAMA IN SEC PLAY
- Alabama is 410-143 (.741) all-time in SEC play, including a 375-122 (.755) mark under Head Coach Patrick Murphy.
- Since switching to the current 24-game conference schedule in 2013, Alabama is 65-31 (.677). That includes a 35-13 mark at home, winning 14 of the 16 home conference series.
- The Crimson Tide has won five SEC regular season titles: 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014
- Alabama owns an all-time winning record against every SEC opponent except LSU.
SIGNIFICANT STREAKS
- Alabama has won 14-straight games heading into this weekend, its longest winning streak of the season. The longest winning streak since 2013 came last season when the Tide won 18-straight from Feb. 13 through March 5.
- Merris Schroder has earned a hit in 15-straight games, the longest streak for any player this season and the longest for any Tide player since Haylie McCleney hit in 16-straight games in 2014. Schroder's 15-game streak is the 10th-longest in program history.
- Bailey Hemphill's reached base streak of 22 games ended on Wednesday, tying her for the second-longest reached base streak by a freshman in program history. Cassie-Reilly Boccia (2009) and Jackie Wilkins (2002) each reached base safely in 22-straight games during their freshman seasons, but all three are far behind record-holder Kelly Kretschman, who reached base safely in a whopping 49-straight games as a freshman in 1998. Within that streak is an SEC-record 35-game hitting streak.
- Alabama pitchers Alexis Osorio and Sydney Littlejohn are currently riding career-best scoreless inning streaks, with Osorio at 22 and Littlejohn at 21. Littlejohn has won eight-straight games, which is tied for the longest winning streak of her career, while Osorio has won six-straight which is one shy of her career best of seven, set last season.
ALEXIS OSORIO NAMED SEC CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK
For the second time this season, junior pitcher Alexis Osorio has earned SEC Pitcher of the Week honors, announced Monday by the Southeastern Conference. She shares this week's honor with Florida senior pitcher Delanie Gourley.
The weekly award is the third of Osorio's career, previously winning on Feb. 29, 2016 and Feb. 13 earlier this season. Overall, Alabama has won SEC Pitcher of the Week 36 times in program history.
Osorio went 3-0 last week over three appearances, striking out 38 batters over 15.0 innings while not allowing a single run. On Friday, she started as part of a combined no-hitter against Jacksonville along with sophomore Madi Moore, already the second no-hitter that Osorio has pitched in this season along with her perfect game at Coastal Carolina in week one. Against the Dolphins, she struck out 11 batters over 4.0 innings. On Saturday against Stanford, she earned a complete-game victory over the Cardinal with 18 strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work with just one hit allowed. The 18 strikeouts is the second-highest total in a single game in program history, only trailing the 19 she threw earlier this season in the perfect game against the Chanticleers.
So far this season, Osorio has an NCAA-leading 122 strikeouts, averaging 2.09 per inning with a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. She also leads the SEC in opposing batting average (.085) and is third in hits allowed (16) and fourth in wins (9).
CAREER RECORD WATCH
- A number of Crimson Tide players are moving up the career school records so far in the 2017 season.
- Junior Alexis Osorio moved into first place with a career 10.14 strikeout-per-game average, surpassing previous record-holder Kelsi Dunne (2008-11) at 9.82. Osorio's 640 career strikeouts rank fifth all-time with fourth-place Jaclyn Traina's (2001-14) 976 career strikeouts as the next milestone.
- Senior Sydney Littlejohn is fifth all-time with a 1.75 career ERA and seventh with a .206 opposing batting average. Littlejohn went 35.1 innings to start the season before allowing an earned run. Osorio is right behind Littlejohn in ERA at seventh (1.88) and is second (.169) in opposing batting average.
- Junior Demi Turner is ranked fifth all-time with a .406 career batting average. She has 145 hits in 357 at-bats, making her one of five on the list with a career average over .400. Former teammate Haylie McCleney (2013-16) holds the record at .447.
- Senior Chandler Dare is sixth in stolen base percentage (.882), just nine points behind fifth-place Whitney Larsen (2008-11) at .891. Dare is 8-9 in stolen bases so far this season. She also cracked the top 10 in batting average at .362, just three points shy of ninth-place Ashley Courtney (2002-05) at .365 and six points shy of eighth-place Lauren Parker (2007-09) at .368.
- Senior Marisa Runyon is seventh all-time with a .612 career slugging percentage and is ninth with 35 home runs. Her 149 career RBIs put her 13 shy of cracking the top 10.
UP NEXT
Alabama concludes its 12-game home stand with a spring break doubleheader on Wednesday, March 15, facing Winthrop at 3:30 p.m. CT and Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. CT. That following weekend, the Tide continues SEC play in Starkville, Miss., against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
- Wednesday, March 15 vs. Winthrop - 3:30 p.m. CT - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Wednesday March 15 vs. Georgia Southern - 6 p.m. CT - Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Friday, March 17 at Mississippi State - 6 p.m. CT - Starkville, Miss.
- Saturday, March 18 at Mississippi State - 6 p.m. CT - Starkville, Miss.
- Sunday, March 19 at Mississippi State - 2 p.m. CT - Starkville, Miss.
