Reviewed by: Pat Byington
Tide rolls into Super Regionals—what you need to know ahead of matchup with Tennessee
Reading time: 4 minutes
Even though its toughest tests of the season remain ahead of themselves, Alabama softball players have to be feeling pretty good after their performance in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
The Crimson Tide went unbeaten including a run-rule victory in the final game to secure a spot in the Super Regional round for the 18th time in program history. But Alabama will have to go through Knoxville to get back to the Women’s College World Series.
Keep reading to find out more about this week’s rivalry matchup with Tennessee + read a full recap of the regional round for three in-state teams.
#14 Alabama at #3 Tennessee
Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy has always been known to challenge his teams and I’m certain this year’s players will be cherishing another chance at Tennessee, who won the SEC regular season title. The Volunteers took 2-of-3 from the Tide in Tuscaloosa earlier this year.
The first team to grab two wins this weekend will advance to Oklahoma City for the WCWS. Here’s the schedule for the super regional in Knoxville:
- Game 1: Friday, May 24, 3PM, ESPN2
- Game 2: Saturday, May 25, 2PM, TBD
- Game 3: Sunday, May 26, Time + TV TBD (if necessary)
The Vols have to be feeling pretty good about their regional performance as well, winning three games without giving up a run. Tennessee’s pitching is a big reason why they are the #3 team in the country. Alabama has scored just one run in three games against them this season.
Tide dominate, Jags + Tigers fall in regional finals
Alabama’s offense had been sputtering throughout the month of May but the bats came alive in Tuscaloosa on Sunday. The Crimson Tide scored nine runs in the first inning on its way to a 12-2 win over Southeastern Louisiana in the regional final.
It was the team’s second highest scoring game of the season. The nine runs in one inning is the program’s best for a postseason game since 2000. Here’s Alabama’s complete list of scores from the regional round:
- Alabama 1, USC Upstate 0
- Alabama 6, SELA 3 (9 innings)
- Alabama 12, SELA 2 (5 innings)
Auburn survived a long Saturday night to make it to the regional final in Tallahassee. Maddie Penta threw a program record 224 pitches and struck out 21 batters across 12 innings in the elimination game that ended at 3AM (!!!).
However, the Tigers could not survive the next day, falling to host Florida State. Here’s their complete results from the week:
- UCF 11, Auburn 6
- Auburn 9, Chattanooga 0 (5 innings)
- Auburn 2, UCF 1 (12 innings)
- Florida State 10, Auburn 4
South Alabama grabbed a couple of wins in its trip to the Sunshine State as well. The Jaguars defeated the two lower seeds in the regional but #5 Florida proved to be too much in both games against USA.
Here’s a look at how the Jags fared in Gainesville.
- South Alabama 1, Florida Atlantic 0
- Florida 9, South Alabama 1 (5 innings)
- South Alabama 5, Florida Gulf Coast 1
- Florida 9, South Alabama 1 (5 innings)
Road to WCWS
Here’s a quick glance at the Super Regional round that begins this week. The winner of each series will advance to Oklahoma City for an 8-team, double elimination tournament in the Women’s College World Series.
14 of the top 16 seeds advanced to the super regionals.
- #16 Texas A&M at #1 Texas
- #15 Florida State at #2 Oklahoma
- #14 Alabama at #3 Tennessee
- Baylor at #4 Florida
- Arizona at #5 Oklahoma State
- #11 Georgia at #6 UCLA
- #10 Duke at #7 Missouri
- #9 LSU at #8 Stanford
Games begin Thursday. You can see the full schedule with updated results on the NCAA website.
Which matchup are you most excited to watch this week? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.
