Lexi Kilfoyl got her first SEC start Saturday and it didn’t go too well for the Tide freshman in the first inning. She gave up two runs on two hits with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
She settled in and gave up just two hits the rest of the way in the six-inning win.
She got the start the next day and again it didn’t go well in the beginning. Her defense helped her out with a double play in the first inning with the bases loaded. She gave up one run on three hits in the second inning.
Just like Saturday, however, she settled in and finished off the Razorbacks over the next four innings.
“That first inning kind of got me,” Kilfoyl said. “I came into the dugout and just had to breathe and think to myself and just trust myself and don’t do too much.”
Alabama’s offense backed up Kilfoyl with 10 runs on Saturday and nine Sunday.
Putting those runs on the board definitely takes a little of my chest for sure,“ she said. ”If I make a mistake here or there I know it’s OK because of the offense.“
Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said the decision to start Kilfoyl back-to-back days was based on what she did last weekend in the Crimson Classic. She started the Friday and Saturday game against Arizona because Montana Fouts was unavailable due to illness.
Murphy said it won’t be unusual to have Kilfoyl or any other pitcher throw back-to-back days.
“Every Sunday of an SEC series, I told them, every pitcher will be ready,” he said. “So if I say ’are you good to go?’ in the third inning the answer should be yes. Everybody was ready (last weekend) and we didn’t need to bring anybody else in. (Kilfoyl) did a great job.
Change for the better
Alexis Mack has been the leadoff hitter since the first game of the season.
Until the Arkansas series.
The graduate transfer was put into the No. 2 spot and Skylar Wallace in the leadoff role against the Razorbacks on Saturday, which was her senior day.
The result was impressive. Mack went 3-for-4 on Saturday with two runs scored in a 10-2 win. She went 3-for-4 with a three-run triple in Sunday’s 9-1 win.
“Just to take a little pressure off her,” Murphy said of moving Mack. “She felt like she was letting people down. That’s the last thing she needs to feel. All of her family was here so to take the pressure off I put her from 1 to 2.”
SEC honor
After a dominant weekend against Arkansas, junior KB Sides was named SEC Co-Player of the Week.
Sides had seven hits and a .778 average in the series with the Razorbacks. She had three multi-hit games and tied a career-best with three hits in the opener. The right fielder scored a season-best three runs on Saturday and also knocked in three runs in the series.
Reach Edwin Stanton at 205-722-0226, edwin.stanton@tuscaloosanews.com or via Twitter, @edwinstantonu2
