Alabama Softball Earns 1,000th Program Victory Tuesday Night

Alabama softball earned a historic win Tuesday night over Mississippi Valley State, shutting out the Devilettes 14-0 in five innings for the 1,000th victory in program history.

“It’s special to see this milestone, especially for a program that’s only 20 years old,” Head Coach Patrick Murphy said. “This team was part of history tonight. Everyone tonight gets their names in the record books.”

Alabama (32-7) is the fourth team in the SEC with 1,000 program victories, but the first among the teams that started during the league’s inaugural 1997 season. The Crimson Tide are now 1,000-295 (.772) all-time.

The Tide got out in front of Mississippi Valley State (9-20) early, scoring eight in the first inning and six the rest of the way for the run-rule victory. Chandler Dare and Marisa Runyon posted multi-hit performances, combining for five RBIs, while Carrigan Fain drove in three runs and scored twice batting eighth. Alexis Osorio (8-5) struck out the first seven batters she faced, finishing the night with 3.0 hitless innings while Madi Moore pitched 2.0 shutout innings in relief.

“We gave a lot of people opportunities tonight,” Murphy said. “I told Alexis and Madi that they would both pitch. Some of our freshmen got opportunities at the plate and they all took advantage of them. We didn’t give up any easy outs or give away an at-bat, even after scoring runs early.”

Alabama manufactured eight runs on five hits in the bottom of the first, turning the lineup over as the top four in the order got two at-bats in the inning. Dare took advantage of both of her first-inning at bats, driving in Haylie McCleney on an RBI single for the first run of the game and adding two more on a two-run single later in the same inning.

A two-run single by Fain in the bottom of the second made it 10-0 before a sacrifice fly and an errant throw allowed two more to cross as the lead swelled to 12-0. A pinch-hit home run by Peyton Grantham in the third made it 13-0 and a sacrifice fly by Sydney Booker pushed the final run of the game across with Alabama ultimately winning 14-0.

Next up, Alabama hosts Mississippi State (21-15, 2-7 SEC) in a three-game SEC series at Rhoads Stadium beginning on Friday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. CT.