Tide SoftballStays Alive In World Series

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Crimson Tide of Alabama rode a strong pitching performance by Charlotte Morgan while making the most of their offensive opportunities in a 3-1 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday night to stay alive in the Women’s College World Series at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

A crowd of 7,660 watched as Alabama improved to 58-7 on the season with its second win of the day.

Earlier in the day Bama had defeated Arizona, 5-1, in an elimination game.

Alabama will play Arizona State at 2 p.m. Sunday and will need to beat the Sun Devils twice to advance to the championship series. Alabama suffered a 3-1 loss to Arizona State in the opening game of the tournament, a controversial umpire's decision providing the winning runs for the Sun Devils.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s season came to an end with a 52-15 record.

The game was delayed for an hour and 37 minutes due to lightning. Play was called going into the bottom of the sixth inning at 10:27 p.m. and resumed at 12:07 a.m.

Morgan, who improved to 18-2 with her seventh complete game on the mound, going the distance for the victory. Morgan worked seven innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out three and walking only one Ragin’ Cajun hitter. Morgan threw 92 pitches on the night.

Donna Bourgeois took the loss for Lafayette to fall to 16-5 on the year. Bourgeois worked 5 1/3 innings on the mound and allowed three runs on four hits while striking out five and walking one in a 74-pitch outing.

A leadoff walk to Brittany Rogers in the first inning quickly turned into a run for the Crimson Tide. Rogers stole second base for her 60th steal of the season and then moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

Rogers extended her hitting streak to 18 games with a third-inning single. Jordan Praytor followed Rogers with another single, but the Crimson Tide was unable to push across a run.

The Tide tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with the help of two Louisiana-Lafayette errors. One run scored on a throwing error to third base by the pitcher and the next run crossed the plate on a Praytor sacrifice fly down the third-base line in foul ground to make it 3-0.

Holly Tankersley got Lafayette on the scoreboard with a monster solo shot to straight-away center field to lead off the top of the sixth inning. It was her 23rd home run of the season and her 74th RBI.

Game Notes

Alabama’s two wins on Saturday equaled its WCWS win total in 11 previous games in Oklahoma City.

Brittany Rogers’ first inning stolen base was her 60th of the season, moving into third place in Southeastern Conference history in single-season stolen bases. Georgia’s Nicole Barber swiped 71 twice to top the charts.

Rogers’ two-out single in the third inning extended her hitting streak to 18 games.

In the circle, Charlotte Morgan earned her 18th win of the season.

The Tide is 34-2 this season when they don’t make an error.