April 29, 2008

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. -

Top-ranked Alabama rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and two more in the eighth for a 6-5 extra-innings win over No. 11 Northwestern in the opening game of the DePaul Softball Invitational at Cacciatore Stadium Tuesday afternoon.

After Northwestern scored a run in the top of the eighth using international tie-breaker rules, Kelley Montalvo quickly tied things up in the bottom half of the inning chopping a double down the left-field line to score Jordan Praytor from second base.

Montalvo then moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored the game-winning run when Charlotte Morgan laced a single up the middle for the win.

Alabama got a little help from the Wildcats in the form of two errors in the bottom of the seventh inning to score two runs and tie the game. Whitney Larsen and Brittany Rogers came through with RBI singles.

The win extends the Crimson Tide's winning streak to 26 games, the second longest in school history, and improves their record to 47-3. The Wildcats fall to 32-12.

Montalvo went 2 for 3 at the plate to lead Alabama while Morgan was 2 for 4 with the game-winning RBI. Kelsi Dunne earned her 20th win in the circle, working the final 1.1 with a strikeout. Lauren Delaney (29-8) took the loss for NU, after allowing six runs on six hits.

Erin Dyer staked the Wildcats to an early lead with a three-run, two-out home run off Morgan in the top of the first inning. Dyer is the same player responsible for the seventh inning game-tying two-run home run in the opening round of the 2006 Women's College World Series against the Tide.

Montalvo answered for the Crimson Tide in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run blast of her own. She launched an 0-2 pitch off Delaney over the right-field wall.

Northwestern hit another two-out home run in the second inning as Darcy Sengewald connected for a solo shot into the left field bleachers for a 4-2 NU lead.

Alabama faces DePaul immediately following this game in its final game of the DePaul Softball Invitational. Alabama travels to Georgia on Saturday, May 3, to begin the final series of the regular season.

-UA-