OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — With one swing of the bat, Alabama slugger Bailey Hemphill broke two school records on softball’s biggest stage.
On Saturday against Florida in an elimination game at the Women’s College World Series, the Crimson Tide junior belted a three-run home run to set the Alabama single-season record for home runs (26) and RBIs (82) to cap a 15-3 win.
The record-breaking homer came in the fourth inning with Alabama already ahead 12-0.
“(Alabama coach Patrick Murphy) told us before the inning to just keep the momentum going on our side and get some more runs for Sarah (Cornell) in the fifth inning, Hemphill said “I didn’t know I was going to hit it over, I got jammed a little bit. It’s just an honor to be talked about with Kelly Kretschman in the same sentence. It’s pretty cool.”
The home-run record stood for 21 years and was set in just the second year of the Alabama softball program by Kretschman, an All-American and Olympic gold medalist.
That was 1998 when Kelly Kretschman set the record,” Murphy said. “That was the second year of the program and she was a freshman and she took the country by storm. She is still the greatest hitter we ever had but for Bailey to pass her up says a lot. For Bailey to do that, especially today in this situation … she broke the RBI record, too. So it was a pretty darn good night for her.”
🗣 #WCWS Postgame Press Conference: @AlabamaSB def. @GatorsSB, 15-3 https://t.co/GGrbe9nZsd
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) June 2, 2019
