Two-Out Rally Provides Insurance for Alabama Softball in WCWS Win over Arizona

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two outs. So what?

It's a familiar refrain heard and said around Alabama softball. In fact, the phrase can be seen painted down the right field pole at Rhoads Stadium.

In Thursday's opening-round Women's College World Series 5-1 win over Arizona, the bottom part of Alabama's order added three insurance runs, and it all started with a two-out single from Savannah Woodard.

Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said his team has a drill they run at practice called "Scoring Two." The object of the drill is that two people have to come up with at least one run somehow, someway. Woodard and Maddie Morgan put that drill into action in Oklahoma City.

"Savannah gets the single with two outs, and then Maddie scored her from first on the double," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. "And both of them, if they don’t do what they do, that doesn’t give Abby a chance to hit it out."

Morgan hit a double in the left-center gap to score Woodard, and then Abby Doerr stepped up to the plate to pinch hit for Taylor Clark. On an 0-2 count, Doerr sent a ball over the centerfield wall for her second home run of the season to cap the two-out rally.

"Two-out hitting is key in the postseason," Murphy said.

Alabama starting catcher Bailey Hemphill had a home run of her own in the second inning, but she called Doerr's two-out pinch hit home run the best part of the day.

"For her to succeed on this level and on the stage right now, that was the coolest part of today when she hit that," Hemphill said. "She was so happy, and we were so happy for her."

The home run was only Doerr's sixth hit of the year.

It didn't appear that starting pitcher Montana Fouts needed much insurance after she had only allowed one hit through six innings, but Jessie Harper hit a two-out home run to break up the shutout in the top of the seventh

"It was huge insurance that we needed," Murphy said.