Bailey Dowling: Alabama’s offense wanted to ‘shock the world’ in Tuscaloosa Regional final

Alabama finished the Tuscaloosa Regional undefeated after striking down SE Louisiana 12-2 in five innings on Sunday.

Third baseman Bailey Dowling was as influential as any for Alabama during the successful regional slate. The senior hit the game-winning RBI in the 1-0 opening win against USC Upstate on Friday and it continued through Sunday’s win.

Against SLU on Sunday, Dowling finished 1-3 at the plate but she scored two runners on a double in the first inning to open up a four-run lead. This would be just a piece of the Crimson Tide’s ultimate 10-hit, nine-run first inning.

“We just came out fired up, ready to win. We wanted to end it in one game and shock the world,” Dowling told the broadcast postgame. “We’ve been working so hard on our hitting and we just wanted to come out this weekend and show everybody that we can do it because our pitching has been holding up everybody for us. When our defense comes out hot, so does our hitting. We’ve been working on that all week and we finally got it done.”

The Crimson Tide now advance to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time in 19 seasons under head coach Patrick Murphy.

Alabama’s nine-run first inning carries the Crimson Tide into Super Regionals

The scoring onslaught began after leadoff batters Kristen White and Larissa Pruitt reached base. Kenleigh Cahalan singled to right field with two runners on base, scoring White and keeping a pair of runners on base. Jenna Johnson‘s single added another run to the board before Dowling added to the party with a two-run double.

Another pair of RBI singles by Kali Heivilin and Riley Valentine added to those totals. Valentine’s single loaded the bases where, by then, the order had restarted and after SE Louisiana recorded its first out 10 batters into the ballgame, the Crimson Tide managed to add three more runs to their total to take a 9-1 lead before the end of the inning.

It was a reminder of Friday’s 1-0 win over USC Upstate as well as Saturday’s 6-3 win over SE Louisiana where the Crimson Tide scored five innings in the ninth inning to remain undefeated in the Tuscaloosa Regional.

“[It] was unreal,” Murphy said of Friday and Saturday’s rallies. “And I know you people had said maybe it’ll transfer over to today. And I think you got the answer in the first inning.”

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