Alabama tops UT in WCWS
OKLAHOMA CITY — Alabama didn’t waste any time getting on a roll Thursday night at Hall of Fame Stadium.
It proved costly for the Tennessee softball team.
The Crimson Tide batted through the order in the first inning and won 5-3 over the Lady Vols in an opening-round game at the Women’s College World Series.
Seventh-seeded Tennessee (52-13) plays next at 2:30 p.m. EDT Saturday in an elimination game against the loser of Thursday’s late game between 11th-seeded Oregon (4416) and third-seeded Arizona State (51-9).
Second-seeded Alabama (56-7), which starts five seniors, plays at 9: 30 tonight against the winner of Thursday’s late game.
The Lady Vols, playing in the program’s fifth WCWS and first since 2010, spotted the Tide four runs in the first inning.
Tennessee staged its final charge with a run in the seventh on Raven Chavanne’s
RBI single. The Lady Vols were threatening to score more, with runners on second and first and one out, before Alabama’s Jackie Traina (38-2) struck out Tory Lewis and Kat Dotson to close the game.
The Crimson Tide’s big first inning came against UT’s WCWS veteran, Ivy Renfroe (25-9), as they sent 10 batters to the plate and capitalized on four walks.
Cassie Reilly-Boccia sent a bases-loaded double into the gap in left-center field to give the Tide a 3-0 lead.
Leadoff hitter Kayla Braud had reached on an infield single before Renfroe walked Jennifer Fenton. Dotson lost Kaila Hunt’s fly ball to right field in the sun, and when she tried to recover with a basket catch, the ball popped out of her glove and left the bases loaded for Reilly-Boccia.
Ivy Renfroe proceeded to walk another batter before Ellen Renfroe came on in relief.
Ellen Renfroe walked two consecutive batters, forcing in another run that made it 4-0, before settling down and getting the next three hitters.
UT sophomore Melissa Davin cut Alabama’s lead in half in the second inning with a tworun home run over the left-field wall after Melissa Brown delivered a two-out single between shortstop and third.
The Tide padded their lead with a run in the fourth inning after Braud doubled a shot past a diving Lauren Gibson at second base. Fenton followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-2, and UT re-entered Ivy Renfroe in relief.
Catcher Ashley Andrews gunned down Fenton on a stolenbase attempt — only the third time in 46 attempts this season Fenton had been caught stealing — and the Lady Vols escaped the inning without any more runs scored.