HOMEWOOD – The University of Alabama softball team scored early and often Tuesday night against Samford, as a pair of home runs in the first two innings gave the Crimson Tide a sizable lead in an 8-1 road victory.
Alabama (38-11) scored eight runs on eight hits, with six coming off a pair of three-run home runs by Reagan Dykes and Bailey Hemphill. Hemphill was 2-for-3, as were Elissa Brown and Chandler Dare. Madi Moore (6-1) earned the complete-game win in the circle, holding Samford (21-30) to just one run on two hits.
Hemphill drove in Brown in with an RBI single to left field before Dykes hit a towering home run to left field, swelling the early lead to 4-0.
A pair of singles in the top of the second by Brown and Dare set up Hemphill for a three-run home run to extend the Tide’s lead to 7-0.
With two out in the top of the sixth, Brown singled up the middle, stole second and advanced to third on a single by Dare and an errant throw allowed Brown to move up 60 additional feet to score, stretching Alabama’s lead to 8-1.
With the score the same in the bottom of the seventh, Samford drew a leadoff walk but a heads-up 1-3 lineout double play quickly brought the Bulldogs down to its final out and a popup ended the game as Alabama held on to win, 8-1.
Next up, Alabama continues SEC play with a three-game series against No. 20 Ole Miss (31-16, 6-12 SEC) in Oxford, Miss., starting Saturday at 2 p.m. Sunday and Monday’s contests, both scheduled for 6 p.m starts, will air live on the SEC Network.
