April 9, 2008

Thursday, April 10, 2008 (7:30 p.m.)
Trojan Softball Complex (500)
Radio: WVUA 90.7 FM • Internet: www.RollTide.com

Leading Off: No. 2/3 Alabama has reeled off 14-straight wins and 12 in a row in SEC play headed into a mid-week game at Troy (24-17, 9-6 Sun Belt) and a weekend showdown at Auburn (31-11, 9-7 SEC). The Crimson Tide (35-3, 15-2 SEC) are fresh off of their first sweep of LSU in Tuscaloosa. Alabama is armed with the league's best offensive unit with a SEC best .350-team batting average and 45 home runs.

Opponent Summary: Troy brings a talented squad into its game with the second-ranked Crimson Tide. The Trojans are 24-17 on the season and 9-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. Led by head coach Melanie Davis, who is in her 15th season at Troy. The Trojans own two wins over Florida State this season and a narrow, 7-6, loss at LSU. Ashlyn Williams is the Troy's top pitcher with a 20-10 record and a 1.56 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 211.1 innings of work. The Trojans are hitting .258 as a team with Courtney Davis (.342) and Heidi Johnson (.339) leading the way.

Series History: Alabama leads the all-time series 10-0 after a 5-0 win in Tuscaloosa on April 24 of last season. The Tide are making their third trip to the Trojan Softball Complex and their first since 2005 when UA captured a 5-1 win. Alabama first visited the Trojans in 2002, winning 4-2.

On Deck: The Crimson Tide venture to Auburn over the weekend for a three-game SEC series that gets underway on Saturday, April 12, at 1 p.m. from Jane B. Moore Field. Alabama then makes their third trip to Birmingham this season for a game with the U.S. Olympic softball team at Liberty Park on Tuesday, April 15, at 6:30 p.m. The Tide then wraps up the road swing with a doubleheader at Arkansas on Thursday, April 17, at 5 p.m., in Fayetteville.

Scouting Troy
Troy brings a talented squad into its game with the second-ranked Crimson Tide. The Trojans are 24-17 on the season and 9-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. Led by head coach Melanie Davis, who is in her 15th season at Troy. The Trojans own two wins over Florida State this season and a narrow, 7-6, loss at LSU. Ashlyn Williams is the Troy's top pitcher with a 20-10 record and a 1.56 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 211.1 innings of work. The Trojans are hitting .258 as a team with Courtney Davis (.342) and Heidi Johnson (.339) leading the way.

Series History
Alabama leads the all-time series 10-0 after a 5-0 win in Tuscaloosa on April 24 of last season. The Tide are making their third trip to the Trojan Softball Complex and their first since 2005 when UA captured a 5-1 win. Alabama first visited the Trojans in 2002, winning 4-2.

Morgan Doing it All - Named National POW
Alabama sophomore 1B/P Charlotte Morgan added to her list of accolades this week when she was named both the Louisville Slugger/NFCA and the ASA/USA Softball National Player of the Week after an impressive weekend showing against then-No. 10 LSU. Morgan helped the Tide post their first sweep of LSU in Tuscaloosa by earning wins in the circle in the final two games. She also clinched the series opener at the plate with a three-run 10th-inning walk-off home run that erased a two-run deficit and gave Alabama a dramatic 9-8 win.

Morgan (9-0) allowed just one run in the circle (0.58 ERA) in two complete-game wins - one shutout - that spanned a total of 12 innings. At the plate, Morgan posted a .538 batting average for the week with two home runs, three doubles, three runs scored and six RBI. She leads the SEC in home runs (.27), RBI (1.30) and doubles (.38) per game while her 48 RBI ranks third nationally.

Tide in the Rankings
Alabama's top-three ranking is backed up by its numbers in 2008. The Crimson Tide rank in the top 11 in seven categories in the NCAA's third rankings of the season were released on April 8. The Tide lead the country in stolen bases with 2.84 per game (108 of 122) and slugging percentage (.585). UA is second in both batting average (.350) and doubles (2.08) while ranking third in both scoring (7.47 runs per game) and win-loss percentage (.921). UA is eighth in home runs (1.18 per game) and ranks 11th in fielding percentage (.977).

Individually, Brittany Rogers is far-and-away the top base stealer in the country, averaging 1.05 per game (40 for 44). She also ranks fifth in batting average (.472) and third in runs per game (1.18) while placing 22nd in on-base percentage (.526). Charlotte Morgan ranks third in RBI (1.30 per game for a total of 48) and Chrissy Owens is tied for ninth nationally in saves with four while Dani Woods ranks fifth in walks per game with .94.

Slick-Fielding Tide
Good defense is many times the key component to winning softball and the Crimson Tide are among the best defensive teams in the country in 2008. Alabama is currently ranked 11th nationally in team fielding with a .977 fielding percentage. UA is fresh off of a six-game-errorless streak and have not made an error in 22-of-38 games this season. The Tide's fielding numbers get even better in SEC play with a .989 fielding percentage over 17 games this season. UA has made just five errors in 441 chances during conference action, including 12-error-free games.

Praytor Catching Fire
Jordan Praytor's senior season got off to a slow start, but the Vancouver, Wash., native has found her stroke at the plate over the past 11 games. She has raised her batting average 108 points during that span, going from .203 after the Mississippi State series to .311 entering the Troy game. Praytor has hit safely in 10-of-11 games during that stretch with a team-best .516 (16-31) average, 16 runs scored, four doubles, two triples, two home runs, 10 RBI. She has also reached base at a .590 clip while slugging .968 and stealing seven bases.

Owens Just Misses Perfection
Alabama senior pitcher Chrissy Owens came up one strike shy of the second perfect game in school history on Wednesday, April 2, at Samford as the Tide captured a 4-0 win. Owens had retired the first 20 batters she faced with eight strikeouts before Aaren Fisher laced a double just out of the reach of a diving Brittany Rogers in left-center field with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

LSU Recap
The Crimson Tide swept LSU in Tuscaloosa for the first time and took a commanding four-game lead in the loss column over the Tigers in the race for the SEC West. Charlotte Morgan carried the Tide to victory in the opener on Saturday with a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 9-8 win. Kelsi Dunne pitched nine innings of that game, throwing 195 pitches before Chrissy Owens got the win out of the bullpen. UA rolled to an 8-0 win the second game of the twinbill on Saturday with Morgan throwing a complete-game (five inning) shutout. Morgan returned to the circle on Sunday as the Crimson Tide completed the sweep. Morgan threw a complete game and homered while Lauren Parker went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI.

Keys to Winning
The Crimson Tide have been clutch at the plate this season and no statistics better illustrates that point than their .356 average with runners in scoring position and their .346 average and 102 RBI with two outs.

Lauren Parker and Brittany Rogers are leading the Tide at the plate with runners in scoring position. Parker is hitting .500 (21 for 42) and Rogers is hitting .535 (23 for 43) while Charlotte Morgan (.464) and Dani Woods (.432) are close behind.

With two outs in an inning the Tide have produced 40.3 percent of their RBI this season (102 of 253). Morgan has paced the Tide with a .475 (19 for 40) average with 14 two-out RBI. Rogers is second with a .471 average and eight RBI, while Parker is hitting .444 (11 RBI) and Dani Woods is hitting .438 with 14 two-out RBI. Kellie Eubanks has the most two-out RBI with 17 and a .313 average.

Records Fall in Lexington
Alabama put on an offensive display in a doubleheader on March 22 at Kentucky by combining to plate 25 runs on the strength of 11 home runs in 14-4 and 11-2 victories Saturday at the UK Softball Complex. The Tide scored 34 runs in the three games, which is a new record for Alabama in a three-game series.

On top of the 34 runs that broke the old record of 28 runs in a three game series set last season against Ole Miss, the Tide also broke the single game home run record. After tying the mark in the first game of the doubleheader with five round-trippers, UA blasted six in the nightcap to set the mark.

Murphy Captures 500th Win at Alabama
UA head coach Patrick Murphy reached a milestone on Charlotte Morgan's dramatic three-run walk-off home run in the first game of a doubleheader against LSU on April 5 as he captured his 500th win at Alabama. Making the moment even more memorable was he did it against LSU head coach Yvette Girouard, who gave Murphy his start as an assistant softball coach at Southwestern Louisiana in 1990. Murphy is now 502-152 (.768) at Alabama and 530-172 (.755) as a head coach.

UA Great Kretschman Named to USA Olympic Team
Alabama great Kelly Kretschman (1998-2001) was named to the 2008 USA Olympic Softball Team the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) announced on Friday, March 28. Kretschman was a four-time All-American for Tide and owns every career offensive record at Alabama. She helped Team USA capture the Gold Medal in dominating fashion in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and was an alternate on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team.

In The Rankings
The University of Alabama softball team remains in the top three of both national softball polls after the Crimson Tide swept then-No. 10 LSU at home over the weekend. Alabama maintained its rankings from both polls. The Crimson Tide (35-3 overall, 15-2 in the SEC) is ranked No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA top 25 poll and remains ranked third in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

SEC Chart Toppers
The University of Alabama has played outstanding softball thus far and it has shown in the SEC team statistics. The Tide pace the league in 13 offensive categories in conference games only, including; average (.346), slugging percentage (.629), on-base-percentage (.453), runs (121), hits (148), home runs (27), doubles (36), stolen bases (40), total bases (269), walks (71), hit by pitch (16), fewest strikeouts (63) and RBI (113).

The Natural
Despite battling a slew of injuries in the second half of her sophomore season and the first month of her junior campaign, All-American Lauren Parker has still managed to have a significant impact on the Tide's offense. Despite missing five of Alabama's 38 games this season, Parker is second on the team with seven home runs while ranking third on the team in batting average (.398) and RBI (34). She also boasts a .735 slugging percentage, which ranks second on the squad.

Terror From the Leadoff Spot
Crimson Tide All-American Brittany Rogers has proven that she belongs in any discussion of the best leadoff hitters in the nation. Rogers, a second-team All-American in 2007, is off to one of the best starts of any player in the country. Rogers has opened the season hitting .472 (58-of-123) through 38 games, leading the team and the SEC. She averages 1.53 hits per game and also leads the Tide with 45 runs scored and the country in stolen bases, with 40 steals in 44 attempts. After hitting .696 and stealing 10 bases for the week of Feb. 12-18, Rogers earned SEC Player of the Week accolades and was named Hampton Inn Crimson Classic MVP.

Shutout Duo
Kelsi Dunne and Chrissy Owens have been shutting down opponents this season. In five of her last seven SEC starts, Dunne has held the opponent scoreless. That streak includes wins over No. 3 Tennessee. No. 4 Florida, No. 15 Mississippi State, Kentucky and Ole Miss. Owens came with a strike of recording the second perfect-game in school history on April 2 at Samford. The complete-game shutout was the 23rd of her career, which ranks third all-time at UA. The duo have combined for 10 shutouts this season.

Two No-Nos for Rookie Dunne
It only took five starts, but Tide true freshman pitcher Kelsi Dunne etched her name in the UA record books with a breakout pitching performance against Illinois on Feb. 22. The Port Orange, Fla., native returned to her home state and threw the 12th no-hitter in Crimson Tide history in a 6-0 win over the Illini. The performance was truly dominating, as Dunne allowed only two base runners in the historic win. Both reached in the fourth, one on a fielding error and the other on Dunne's only walk of the game. It was the first no-hitter by a Tide pitcher since Blair Potter blanked Kentucky on April 29, 2007. It was the first seven-inning no-hitter for UA since Stephanie VanBrakle no-hit Missouri State on Feb. 19, 2006. She was named SEC Freshman of the Week for her efforts.

Dunne followed that up with her second no-hitter of the season in a five-inning effort against Ole Miss on March 30. She struck out 11 and allowed just two base runners on a walk and a hit by pitch.

K Machine
True freshman pitcher Kelsi Dunne has demonstrated her ability to baffle hitters in her first 17 career starts. Dunne leads the team with 152 strikeouts in 113.2 innings pitched, an average of 9.36 K's per seven innings. She struck out 11 in her collegiate debut and has seven shutouts and nine-complete games included in her 14-3 pitching record. Dunne owns an 1.52 ERA and has made 22 appearances this season. She threw the 12th no-hitter in school history against Illinois on Feb. 22 and the 13th vs. Ole Miss on March 30.

Top of the Lineup
One of the keys to Alabama's explosive offense throughout the past two seasons has been the production at the top of the lineup. That trend has continued in the 2008 season. In the Tide's opening 35 games, the first five batters in the UA lineup have been nothing short of phenomenal. In that span, the top five hitters have gone 216-for-554 (.390), scored 175 of the team's 284 runs and have driven in 165.

Grand Slams
The Alabama offense has demonstrated its ability to put up runs in bunches thus far this season, and nothing puts runs on the board faster than a grand slam. So far this season, Tide hitters have blasted four home runs with the bases loaded. The school record for grand slams was set in 2006, when Alabama hit five as a team. Dani Woods, Charlotte Morgan, Kellie Eubanks and Whitney Larsen have each hit one grand slam in 2008. Morgan and Eubanks both hit theirs against McNeese State on February 13, becoming the first two players to hit a grand slam in the same game in UA history. Both have two grand slams in their careers, tying for second place all-time behind Christy Kyle (1997-2000), who hit four over her career with the Tide.

Run Production
Last year's Crimson Tide team was an offensive juggernaut, setting a variety of all-time Alabama and SEC offensive records. The 2008 team has been even more impressive through 38 games, lighting up scoreboards regularly. Alabama is averaging 7.47 runs per game in 2008 and has scored more than 10 runs in seven games. The Tide set the school and SEC record last season by averaging 7.12 runs per contest.

500 K's
Senior Chrissy Owens joined an elite club at Alabama when she recorded her 500th career strikeout in the win over New Mexico. Entering the game with 499 career punch outs, Owens wasted no time getting No. 500 out of the way. She struck out the first batter she faced, New Mexico's Samantha Hughes, to become the fourth UA pitcher in history to eclipse the 500 mark, joining Stephanie VanBrakle, Shelley Laird and Erin Wright as the only Tide pitchers to make up the exclusive 500 K club. Owens now has 561 career strikeouts in 519.2 innings over her four-year career.

Praytor is Lowe's Senior CLASS Finalist
Alabama's senior Jordan Praytor is one of thirty of the nation's best college softball players who also excel in the classroom and make an impact in their respective communities to have been selected as the 2008 candidates in the softball division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award, presented to NCAA Division I student-athletes each year in eight sports, focuses on the "Four C's" of classroom, character, community and competition.

Praytor Selected in NPF Draft
University of Alabama senior utility player Jordan Praytor was recently selected by the New England Riptide of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Softball League in its annual Senior Draft. Praytor, a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection (2006-07) and a 2008 Preseason All-American by ESPN.com, was taken with the 22nd selection overall in the fourth round of the draft.

Non-Conference Recap
Alabama wrapped up its non-conference play with a near-perfect record. The Tide came out of the gate with 17-straight victories. The lone blemish on the record came against No. 25 ranked Washington in the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. Alabama is a combined 57-3 in its last three seasons against its preseason opponents. Alabama went a perfect 21-0 last year before SEC play.

Sold Out
The success of the UA softball program under head coach Patrick Murphy can be seen by simply looking around the Alabama Softball Facility. As the wins have, the Crimson Tide fan base has grown steadily. From a handful of supporters in the early days of the Murphy era, Alabama has come to be among the nation's leaders in attendance on a perennial basis. On January 28, the UA ticket office sold its 1,595th and final season ticket for the 2008 season, giving the Tide an unprecedented season-long sellout in Tuscaloosa. It is unknown whether this feat has been equaled at any other softball program nationally.

In 2007, the Tide ranked third in the nation in average attendance, bringing in an average of 1,436 fans per game at home. Alabama posted seven of the top 10 all-time attendance figures in 2007, including the top four largest crowds in UA history.

In 2008, Alabama is once again setting attendance records. The Tids is average a school-recod 2,047 per game and have sold 42,990 tickets this season. The Tide has seen 10 crowds of 2,000 or more in 2008 with a new school record of 2,461 coming in at doubheader vs. LSU on April 5.

Winning 500
Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy surpassed an impressive milestone in the coaching profession last week in his team's record-setting 21-1 win over McNeese State on Feb. 13. Murphy owns 516 wins in his 10-year career, including 487 with the Tide and 28 in his one-year tenure at Northwest Missouri State. Murphy became one of 50 active coaches nationally with at least 500 career victories. Murphy owns a 502-152 mark in nine-plus years as head coach at the Capstone.

Strength of Schedule
After a disappointing seed in last year's NCAA Tournament, Murphy and his staff have assembled one of the most challenging schedules in Alabama softball history. The Tide will square off against no fewer than nine teams ranked in the two national softball preseason polls. Alabama faces Northwestern (7/6), DePaul (10/8), Washington (11/14) and Georgia Tech (17/18) in non-conference action. The Tide meets Tennessee (6/11), LSU (9/7) and Florida (13/13) in SEC action this season. Alabama went 11-9 against ranked teams in 2007.

All-Americans
Alongside the team accomplishments the Crimson Tide earned a season ago, three players added to the already long list of individual standouts in UA softball history. Lauren Parker, Brittany Rogers and Chrissy Owens each earned All-American distinction following the 2007 season, bringing the number of All-Americans in Alabama softball history to 44.

Parker earned first team honors from the NFCA and Easton All-American teams after one of the best offensive seasons in school history. Rogers earned NFCA second team accolades and Owens was a third team selection. In the 2008 preseason, three Tide players were selected by ESPN.com. Parker was a first team honoree, while Rogers and Jordan Praytor made second team.