Tide Softball Completes Sweep Of SC

Brittany Rogers removed Kelly Kretschman’s named from atop the career stolen base chart and No. 1 Alabama completed the three-game sweep of South Carolina 6-0 on Sunday afternoon in front of 2,145 fans at the Alabama Softball Complex.

Chrissy Owens improved to 12-0 on the season in the circle with a commanding complete-game shutout. It was Owens’ fourth shutout of the season and the 24th of her career. She fanned nine while allowing just three hits and one walk.

It was the fifth-straight shutout for the Crimson Tide, who has not allowed a run in their last 34 innings. The five-straight shutouts are the second-longest streak in school history. The Tide has also won 23-straight games overall and has 20-consecutive SEC wins.

Alabama is 44-3 overall and 23-2 in SEC play, one game back of Florida in the loss column for the SEC Championship. South Carolina stands at 20-21 overall and 7-13 in league play.

“What a great performance by Chrissy Owens,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. “She came out and matched yesterday’s performances in the circle and really battled. Charlotte (Morgan) and Dani (Woods) came through with big two-out hits and our defense was great.”

Rogers fourth-inning stolen base was the 134th of her career, passing Kretschman, who swiped 133 from 1998-2001. It was also Rogers’ 48th steal this season, which ties the school mark she set last season.

The Crimson Tide plated two runs in the first inning with a lot of help from the Gamecocks in the form of three errors. Rogers reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and raced to third base on the play. She then scored on a throwing error before Kelley Montalvo doubled home the second run of the inning.

Charlotte Morgan and Dani Woods each came through at the plate in the third inning with RBI singles. Montalvo got the inning started with her second double of the game and came around to score on Morgan’s 57th RBI of the season.

Morgan wasn’t finished as she connected her 14th home run of the season with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The two-run shot gave the Tide a 6-0 lead and Morgan 59 RBI for the season.

The Gamecocks threatened to score in the top of the sixth inning with runners on second and third base and no outs, but Owens went to work. She got two ground outs to second base that held the runner at third base and struck out Jill Semento to end the threat.