Alabama Asserts Dominance Out West with Sweep Over Oregon State, Arizona

Saturday was supposed to be Alabama's toughest day of games at the Candrea Classic in Arizona, but you wouldn't know that by looking at the final scores.

Saturday evening, the No. 2 Crimson Tide beat No. 9 Arizona in run-rule fashion by the same score, 11-0, that it had beat Southern Utah on Friday. Earlier in the day, Alabama also beat another Pac 12 opponent, Oregon State, 5-1.

Contrary to what one might have assumed, Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy started Lexi Kilfoyl in the circle for the second game against the ranked Wildcats and started Montana Fouts against Oregon State. In doing so, Murphy proved the depth Alabama has in the circle with two pitchers that can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country.

Kilfoyl and Fouts combined to pitch 12 innings of one-run ball, only giving up five hits on the day in the two games against Pac 12 opponents.

A day after hitting four home runs in the season opener against the Thunderbirds, Alabama continued the home run fest with six combined home runs against Oregon State and Arizona. Freshman Megan Bloodworth continued her hot hitting from Friday in her first at-bat on Saturday with another home run against the Beavers.

Alabama's five other deep balls on the day came against the host Wildcats. A scoreless game through two innings, Kilfoyl got the bats going with a home run in the top of the third. It would turn into a big inning for the Crimson Tide with an RBI-triple from Jenna Johnson and a three-run home run from Abby Doerr to give Alabama a 6-0 lead.

The power was contagious into the fourth inning as Ashley Prange and Dallis Goodnight joined the deep ball barrage with solo shots of their own. But Prange was not done on the night. The Ohio State transfer sent a three-run blast out to left-center field in the top of the fifth to expand the Alabama lead to 11-0.

The 11 runs were more than enough for Kilfoyl, who only allowed two Wildcats hits all game. She quickly gathered three outs in the bottom of the fifth for the run-rule victory.

Through three games, Alabama already has 10 home runs from seven different players with Bloodworth leading the way with three. All of last season, the Crimson Tide only had 41 home runs in 61 games.

In the first game of the day against Oregon State, Fouts allowed a second-inning home run to Frankie Hammoude, but that would be the only run given up by the Crimson Tide pitching staff through three games.

Catcher Ally Shipman got the scoring started against the Beavers with an RBI single in the first and added two more RBIs in the fifth. She is tied for the team lead in RBIs with Bloodworth at six each. A Bailey Dowling single in the fifth provided some extra insurance for the Crimson Tide against Oregon State to give Alabama a 5-1 lead which would hold until the end.

Alabama wraps up the opening weekend of games on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against New Mexico.