Big Fifth Inning Sends No. 2 Alabama Softball to Another Top-20 Win
All it took was one hit from Bailey Dowling, and then the floodgates opened for the No. 2 Alabama offense against No. 20 Louisiana on Sunday.
The Crimson Tide was no-hit through three innings. A couple of free passes loaded the bases for Dowling, and she came through with a two-RBI single in the fourth. Alabama piled on more runs in the fifth to run-rule Louisiana for the second time in four days by a score of 8-0 in the finale of the Mardi Gras Mambo in Youngsville, Louisiana.
After Dowling got the breakthrough hit in the fourth to give Alabama the 3-0 lead, Kat Grill led off the fifth with a single to get the ball rolling for the Tide. Alabama (15-0) sent 11 runners to the plate in the fifth and scored five runs to build an eight-run lead and put the game in run-rule territory.
Starter Montana Fouts handled the rest from there. She quickly got three outs in the bottom of the fifth to secure the run-rule victory. It was far from Fouts' best performance of the year. She gave up more walks in this game (4) than she had all season so far (3), yet she still managed to shut out a top-20 team.
Fouts improves to 6-0 and lowered her ERA to 0.38 through eight appearances. While Alabama did commit its third error of the season, Fouts was backed up by a couple of nice defensive plays to keep the Ragin' Cajuns (10-2) off the board. In a scoreless game in the bottom of the third, a leadoff walk and the error moved the Louisiana runner to third with no outs.
The next batter hit a ground ball to freshman Megan Bloodworth at second who was able to get the runner out at home. Alabama ended the inning with a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play to get out of the jam.
In the fifth-inning offensive outburst, Kaylee Tow, Bloodworth and Dowling all had RBI hits. Dowling finished 2-2 with three RBIs. Coming into the weekend Dowling only had four hits and four RBIs on the season but collected five hits and six RBIs at the Mardi Gras Mambo. The first run of the game came on a bases-loaded walk from Abby Doerr before Dowling's two-RBI hit.
After six games in four days in Louisiana, Alabama will return to Tuscaloosa for a midweek game against UAB on Wednesday night at 6 before hosting the Crimson Classic with Texas and Miami (OH) in town for the weekend.
