Vic Moten Bounces Back, Ambrey Taylor Steps Up as No. 6 Alabama Beats ULM

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama did not have its best offensive performance, but it got three hits out of Alexis Pupillo, including her 10th home run of the season and enough from the pitchers to pick up a midweek win over ULM on a chilly Tuesday afternoon at Rhoads Stadium.

Vic Moten bounced back with three innings of scoreless relief to earn the win as No. 6 Alabama beat ULM 4-1. Moten struck out six batters over four innings, including the first three batters she faced and the final two outs of the game. Kaitlyn Pallozzi got the start in the circle and only allowed one run on an RBI groundout in the third inning.

"I knew, you know, it's a midweek game," Moten said. "Sometimes we kind of like chill, but I knew going in that I was going to keep the same intensity and just get outs."

Moten was coming off her worst performance of the season when she allowed eights hits and eight runs over 5.2 innings in Saturday's loss to Arkansas. Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said she was "much better" than Saturday.

"I thought it was a lot sharper," Murphy said. "I thought she came out with a little vengeance, and that's what we were hoping for."

Freshman Ambrey Taylor got her first start at third base and fifth start overall and came through with a 2-RBI triple in the first inning that gave the Crimson Tide its initial lead. When ULM had runners on first and second with no outs in the sixth inning, three straight balls were hit to Taylor, and she got all three outs.

"Whenever we have somebody in defense, we always say that new girl gets the ball," Murphy said of Taylor. "So just assume that you're going to get it. She got it. And then offensively, she just continues to do good things...She definitely got herself more playing time."

Alabama scored three runs in the first inning with Taylor's triple and an RBI single from Ana Roman. The only other run came on Pupillo's solo home run in the third inning. Pupillo now has a seven game hitting streak.

Line Drive Homer for Lex🚀

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"Just trusting in myself and the other people around me, because I know that the other people around me just give me so much confidence in my ability," Pupillo said. "And so do our coaching staff. They do a great job of game planning and making sure we're all ready to go."

ULM (17-15) is coached by former Alabama catcher Molly Fichtner, now in her eighth season. Alabama improves to 27-1 on the season and will travel to Missouri this weekend for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 5 p.m.

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