Alabama Athletics
No. 13 Alabama Softball Splits Doubleheader in Front of Record Crowd for Fouts' Homecoming Trip
Dot Hicks Field on the campus of Marshall University has an official capacity a little over 300.
There were just a few more than that packed in every spare crevice of space when No. 13 Alabama softball and Montana Fouts rolled into West Virginia for her hometown trip Tuesday afternoon.
Much to the delight of the jam-packed crowd, Fouts got the save in game two of Tuesday's doubleheader to hand Marshall its first home loss of the year as the Crimson Tide won 3-1.
Senior pitcher Lauren Esman got the start against the Thundering Herd and was dazzling in the circle. She was perfect through four innings, and only allowed one hit the entire game.
Alabama only had one hit on offense through five innings until fifth-year catcher Ally Shipman led off the sixth with a double. Junior Bailey Dowling followed it up with a two-run home run, her second of the day, to give the Crimson Tide the 2-0 win. Alabama would tack on another run that inning from an error.
Shipman and Dowling were the leaders at the plate for Alabama all day. Both had four total hits on the day with Dowling homering in each game with three RBIs. Shipman had three hits against Marshall while the rest of the offense was struggling.
Fouts came in to close the door and put the exclamation point on the game. It was her fourth save of the season.
It was a good bounce-back win for Alabama after dropping the first game of the doubleheader to Liberty 5-3. Fouts' homecoming was somewhat spoiled by the loss she took in game one. Redshirt sophomore Alex Salter started in the circle against the Flames, and was lifted for Fouts in the third inning after giving up a home run and back-to-back walks.
Liberty took its first lead on a squeeze bunt play. It was all tied up at 2-2 heading into the fifth inning. Bailey Dowling re-gave Alabama the lead with a solo home run, but the Flames took it right back in the bottom of the inning with a three-run home run from Caroline Hudson off of Fouts that gave Liberty the 5-3 lead.
The Alabama offense couldn't do anything in the sixth or seventh innings to get back into the game. The loss to Liberty was the first in program history and snapped Alabama's four game winning streak dating back to last week.
Tuesday's doubleheader was a microcosm of most of Alabama's season– some good, some bad. The offense went a combined 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position and once against struggled to find the key hit outside of Dowling or Shipman. Fouts will no doubt be frustrated with the game one loss, which could be a good thing for the Crimson Tide with Auburn coming into town this weekend.
Time and time again throughout her career, Fouts has had shutdown performances after weaker outings. And it will be important for her and the Crimson Tide for the remainder of the schedule.
These were the last non-conference and midweek games of the regular season. Alabama (33-13) has just three series left at home against Auburn and LSU and on the road at Ole Miss before postseason begins with the SEC Tournament.
