One of college softball’s most impressive streaks came to an end on Sunday.
For the first time since Super Regionals were introduced to the NCAA Softball Tournament in 2005, the Alabama Crimson Tide had appeared in every single one… until 2022.
The Crimson Tide entered “championship Sunday” needed to defeat Stanford twice in order to win the Tuscaloosa regional and to host Oregon State in the Super Regionals next weekend for a chance to play in the Women’s College World Series.
Game one went Alabama’s way, as they scored all of their runs in the 6th inning to defeat the Cardinal, 4-0. [autotag]Jenna Lord[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaylee Tow [/autotag] each plated a run, with the big blow coming off the bat of [autotag]KJ Haney[/autotag], who recorded two RBI on a double to left field.
The Cardinal bats, led by Aly Kaneshiro, were too much to handle in the late innings, as Stanford defeated Alabama, 6-0 in the winner-take-all game seven.
Kaneshiro plated three runs over the final two innings to lead the way for Stanford in batting. Alabama caught a tough break in the 7th inning, which led to three runs. With the bases loaded, Sydnee Huff singled up the middle to score two runs. However, the relay throw back into the infield went off-target. The throwing error scored an additional run, which pushed Stanford to a 4-0 lead.
After the game, head coach Patrick Murphy tipped his cap to Stanford, citing Alabama’s history with teams from the Pac-12 conference, and says that Stanford played well enough to knock the Tide out of the NCAA Tournament.
When you look back through all the Super Regionals that we’ve been in we’ve had to go through Washington, we’ve gone through Stanford, we’ve gone through Arizona State, we’ve gone through a lot of Pac-12 teams in Cal, Stanford, Washington, you name it. They were the first ones to come in and do it. They earned it and I know they will do well next weekend.
The Crimson Tide finish with record of 44-13, including a 24-6 record at Rhoads Stadium.
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