Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As it has all weekend, stellar pitching and red-hot hitting led Alabama to a convincing 11-1 win over Washington, punching the Crimson Tide’s 11th straight ticket to the NCAA Super Regional round.
Alabama (45-12) is the only team in the country to advance to every Super Regional round since its inception in the 2005 season. As the No. 6 overall seed, Alabama will host the Super Regional against the winner of the Norman Regional between Texas A&M and Oklahoma. This will be the eighth Super Regional round that Alabama has hosted.
The Tide bats were hot again on Sunday, blasting four home runs that accounted for seven of the 11 runs scored. The four home runs are the most for Alabama since doing so at Ole Miss on March 16, 2014. Haylie McCleney hit the first of the Tide’s four home runs, marking her third straight game with a homer after hitting just three all season prior to this weekend. Chaunsey Bell hit Alabama’s second homer of the day as part of a 3-3 performance with four RBI. Danae Hays earned her third straight multi-hit game, going 2-4 with three runs scored, while Chandler Dare went 2-4 out of the nine-hole.
Alexis Osorio (19-7) notched her second win of the weekend, throwing a complete game with just one run and two hits allowed. She has allowed only two runs over her last three starts, totaling 19 innings pitched.
Washington (42-17) couldn’t get its offense going against Osorio and starter Kasey Stanchek (15-8) lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing three early runs while reliever Hailey Bator was roughed up with eight earned runs over 5.1 innings pitched. Casey Stangel’s RBI single in the fourth inning was the only run allowed by Alabama all weekend.
As the designated away team, McCleney didn’t waste any time putting runs on the board in the top of the first, turning on the fourth pitch of her at-bat to blast a solo homer into right field, giving Alabama an early 1-0 lead. With two in scoring position and two out in the top of the second, a perfectly placed infield single by Dare allowed one run to score and a passed ball in the next at-bat allowed another to cross the plate, quickly giving Alabama a 3-0 lead. After a walk put two on base with two out, Washington turned to Hailey Bator in the circle, who forced a groundout to end the half-inning.
With two outs in the top of the third, Leona Lafaele was hit by a pitch to start a two-out rally as Hays followed with a single through the left side and Bell unloaded the bases with a three-run blast to left field, doubling the Tide’s lead to 6-0. McCleney blasted her second home run of the day with two out in the top of the fourth, making it 7-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Washington got a runner into scoring position after a throwing error to lead off the inning and a high fly ball advanced her to third base. Casey Stangel then pulled a 3-1 pitch into right field, driving in the first run against Alabama allowed all weekend as the score was now 7-1.
Alabama looked to put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth, leading off the inning with a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases. After a force out at home went for out number one, McCleney drew a walk to drive in a run and make it 8-1. The Tide looked to score on a fly ball to center field but a good throw had the runner pegged at home plate as that quickly ended the threat. Alabama tacked on three more in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Bell and a two-run homer by Richard to make it 11-1. Washington would get two people on base in the bottom of the seventh but could not score another run as the Tide took home the 11-1 victory.
With the win, Alabama will advance to play in its 11th straight Super Regional round next weekend, hosting No. 11 seed Oklahoma, who won the Norman Regional this past weekend.
