With runners at first and second at the top of the sixth, rookie Jenna Lord hit a ball from her bat that made a funny bounce past the Stanford first basemen and slid into shallow right field .
It was enough to score Ally Shipman from second place, and the Crimson Tide scored their first run and took their first lead of the weekend against Stanford.
Lord’s hit was just the tip of the iceberg to start the rally for Alabama in the sixth as the Crimson Tide scored four runs in the inning to take a 4-0 lead capped by a brace of two runs batted in by KJ. Haney. That scoreline stood as Alabama avoided elimination with the 4-0 win over Stanford at Rhoads Stadium early Sunday.
Montana Fouts bounced back from a tough outing against the Cardinal on Saturday to throw seven shutout innings.
For five innings, it was more or less the same for the Alabama offense. The Crimson Tide had a few more hits than in Saturday’s game against Stanford, but still had no runs. The Cardinal made a pitching change before the start of the sixth, bringing in his ace and Saturday starter Alana Vawter.
Seeing her for the second straight day, Alabama was finally able to adjust to Vawter and tagged her for four hits and all four runs.
With the win, Alabama forced the much-needed win-win final Tuscaloosa Regional matchup with the Cardinal to see which team advances to the Super Regional. The first pitch will take place at 1:30 p.m.
Tony Tsoukalas is an Alabama Beat reporter for Bama Central and has been covering the Crimson Tide since 2016. He primarily covers football and recruiting in Alabama, but also covers a variety of other Crimson Tide sports. You can follow him on Twitter at @Tony_Tsoukalas
