Shipman Sends Alabama to Supers with Seventh-Inning Home Run
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It only takes one.
Alabama had gone through quick inning after quick inning at the plate, often getting out on the first pitch. But sometime swinging at the first pitch is a good thing.
Ally Shipman stepped up to the plate to lead off the seventh inning and smashed the first pitch she saw over the left field wall to finally get Alabama on the board.
Four batters later, Jaala Torrence completed the shutout and a dominant weekend in the circle for the 1-0 win over Middle Tennessee to send the Crimson Tide back to Super Regionals.
"I really just wanted to do it for Jaala," Shipman said after the game. "I mean, she pitched a heck of a game out there. She was giving it everything she had. So as her catcher, I just wanted to be there for her up in the box in that last inning there. I was really just trying to hit a line drive. We were popping up a lot, and I was just like, 'cut the ball in half, cut the ball in half,' and it ended up going out."
The Rhoads Stadium crowd had been waiting all afternoon for something to cheer about after the Blue Raiders beat the Crimson Tide 4-1 in the first game Sunday to force the if-necessary game.
Shipman's home run did just that, and then Torrence and the defense took care of the rest in the bottom half of the inning.
The two teams had been locked in a scoreless tie through the first six innings before Shipman's sixth home run of the season and second of the weekend to lead off the seventh. Alabama had just three hits before the final inning.
With Montana Fouts' availability questionable all weekend due to a knee injury, Torrence stepped up big time. The junior pitcher did not allow an earned run over 18.2 innings pitched in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
Perhaps the biggest sequence of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Middle Tennessee's leadoff hitter Shelby Echols reached with a leadoff single for her third hit of the day to bring up the Blue Raiders' home run leader, Laura Mealer, who already had two home runs off the Crimson Tide this weekend.
Instead of a breakthrough inning, Torrence struck Mealer out for the third time of the game, and Shipman caught Echols trying to steal second base. The next Middle Tennessee hitter singled up the middle, so instead of having runners on the corners with one out in a scoreless game, the Blue Raiders just had a runner on first with two outs, and Torrence retired the next batter on one pitch to set up Shipman's home run the next inning.
Even though the game was at Rhoads Stadium, Alabama was the visiting team in the NCAA Tournament game because it had been the home team in the first game of the doubleheader, meaning the Blue Raiders got the final chance at the plate.
Middle Tennessee brought the winning run to the plate with a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh, but Torrence ended it with her eighth strikeout of the game, a new season high.
"I've been feeling good this whole weekend, so I really wanted the ball," Torrence said after the game. "I wanted to do it for this team and these seniors."
After missing Super Regionals for the first time ever last season, Sunday was an especially sweet afternoon for the Crimson Tide and its four senior, including Shipman and Fouts, who did not want to see their careers come to a close.
Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said he didn't know what to do last season after his team had the early exit in Regionals.
"I did not want anyone to have to take their jerseys off today," Murphy said. "That was goal No. 1, and the players took care of that for the seniors. And the fans helped us. As a regional win, it ranks pretty high."
No. 5 Alabama will host Supers against No. 12 Northwestern beginning this Friday.
