Unexpected Offensive Source Helps Alabama Softball Sweep through Super Regionals
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It's a moment she's been waiting for all year, and it happened in the last game of the year at Rhoads Stadium. Fifty-seven games into the season, Maddie Morgan finally saw a ball soar off her bat over the outfield wall.
The home run could not have come at a better time for her team as it provided valuable insurance runs for No. 3 Alabama in its 4-1 win over Kentucky to clinch a spot in the Women's College World Series.
"Crazy, that's the word I would use to describe that home run," Morgan said. "Just the atmosphere, I've been waiting for that to happen."
The two-run blast lifted the sold-out Rhoads Stadium crowd to their feet on Saturday, and Morgan said she was grateful to do it in front of that environment. However the home run on Saturday was not Morgan's only heroic moment on the weekend.
In Friday's game, Alabama was trailing 2-0 heading into the fourth inning. A bases-clearing triple from KB Sides gave the Crimson Tide a 3-2 lead. Two batters later, Morgan singled through the right side with two outs to score Sides to give Alabama an extra run.
It may have seemed insignificant at the time, but that run proved to be extra valuable as Kentucky hit a seventh-inning home run to bring the game within one. Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy called Morgan's hit the difference in the game.
Many people were focused on Sides' triple, and rightfully so, but without Morgan's single, the game could have gone to extra innings after the Wildcats' home run.
"Another big hit that inning was Maddie Morgan's two-out RBI to right field," Murphy said. "That was the winning margin."
Morgan bats seventh in the Alabama lineup and came into the weekend with the second-lowest batting average among the Tide starters. In the postseason, it takes all nine people in the lineup stepping up.
Murphy often says that timely hits are a key to success in softball, and his team will need more clutch hits like Morgan's as they begin the WCWS in Oklahoma City against No. 11 Arizona on Thursday.
A common refrain among the official social media account of Alabama softball and its players after Alabama's wins over Kentucky has been "not done yet."
This team has their eyes on a bigger prize than a super regional or even SEC tournament win. Morgan, among others, will play a key role in Alabama reaching that prize, the national championship.
