Alabama Softball Shuts Out Tennessee, 4-0, in Weekend Finale

Alabama softball won its weekend finale against Tennessee Monday night at Rhoads Stadium, shutting out the Lady Vols, 4-0.

The shutout is the 12th this year for Alabama (28-15, 8-10 SEC), as the Crimson Tide held Tennessee (40-9, 10-8 SEC) to just one hit. Senior Alexis Osorio (11-7) threw a complete-game in the circle, posting her sixth shutout of the season and the 27th of her career, passing Stephanie VanBrakle to third all-time on the Crimson Tide career records. The heart of Alabama’s batting order provided three of the four RBIs, with singles from juniors Caroline Hardy and Merris Schroder and a triple from senior Sydney Booker. A sacrifice fly by sophomore Gabby Callaway in the sixth inning tallied the fourth and final run of the day.

In the bottom of the first inning, Schroder reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and came home on an RBI single from Hardy to put the Crimson Tide ahead 1-0. With senior Demi Turner at second base and one out in the bottom of the third, Schroder knocked a single up the middle to bring her home and double the lead to 2-0 before advancing to second on the throw. A groundout moved her to third base before Booker roped a ball down the right field line, finding the corner for an RBI triple but she was tagged out at home on the same play trying to score on an errant throw to end the inning.

With the score still 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Elissa Brown led off the inning with a hard single down the left field line and stole second base on the second pitch of the next at-bat. A walk to Turner put two on base with nobody out but Tennessee reliever Caylan Arnold got out of the jam with three-straight strikeouts. Cailin Hannon led off the top of the sixth with a single through the left side, breaking up Osorio’s no-hit bid. A groundout moved Hannon into scoring position but a popup and groundout ended the inning as Alabama held onto its three-run lead.

Booker led off the bottom of sixth with a walk, stole second and moved up 60 feet on a sacrifice bunt from freshman pinch-hitter Maddie Morgan. Callaway, pinch-hitting with the Morgan at third, lifted a ball in to left field that was dropped as Booker tagged up and scored on what would have been a sacrifice fly and Callaway moved to second on the error. The Tide took the 4-0 lead to the top of the seventh and shut down the Lady Vols with a three-up, three-down inning to preserve the win.

Next weekend, Alabama travels to Athens, Ga., for a three-game series against the Georgia Bulldogs (40-7, 13-5 SEC), beginning Friday, April 27 at 5 p.m. CT.

The weekend series wraps up on Monday, April 23 at 6 p.m. CT live on SEC Network.

For the latest information on the team, follow @AlabamaSB on Twitter, BamaSB on Instagram and Alabama Softball on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.