Tide gives SEC first softball crown

OKLAHOMA CITY — An impromptu party in front of the dugout during a fourthinning rain delay turned into a celebration that will last a long time for Alabama’s softball team.

The Crimson Tide turned the 13- minute delay into the momentum that propelled them to a four- run inning, the key in their 5- 4 win over Oklahoma in the deciding game of their best- of- three NCAA championship series that ended early Thursday.

Jackie Traina threw a fivehitter and delivered a key RBI single, and Alabama became the first Southeastern Conference team to win an NCAA softball title. Alabama ( 60- 8) is the first team from outside the Pacific12 Conference to win the title since Michigan in 2005.

“It was a heck of a run for us,” said Alabama coach Patrick Murphy, who returned to the Crimson Tide last year just days after leaving Alabama to accept the head- coaching job at LSU. “It’s a dream come true for everybody at Alabama.

“For us, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. It’s been a long time coming.”

Alabama won the national title in its eighth trip to the Women’s College World Series, succeeding where other SEC teams had failed. Alabama was the third SEC team to advance to the tournament’s championship series.

“Who wouldn’t want to be the first SEC team to win it?” Traina said. “That just makes it that much better.”

Traina gave up three home runs — two to Lauren Cham- berlain, including one in the seventh inning — but fanned her Oklahoma counterpart, Keilani Ricketts, to end a game delayed almost three hours at the start because of a steady rain Wednesday night.

“It wasn’t our time,” said Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, who guided the Sooners to the 2000 national title. “We know that. We know when it’s right. We’ll be back and it will be ours.

“Although we didn’t get what we wanted, it’s an unbelievable journey that I will remember for the rest of my life.”