Wild Pitch Gives Alabama Softball Win No. 1 of the Series

Alabama softball took down the Mississippi State Bulldogs Thursday evening  in game one of the weekend series. The majority of the game consisted of a pitching duel between Alabama's All-American pitcher Montana Fouts and Mississippi State's Aspen Wesley.

The game was scoreless through five innings before the Bulldogs struck first. First baseman Riley Hull got the leadoff single to start the top of the sixth inning, and a sac bunt advanced her to second base. Alabama intentionally walked Mia Davidson who leads MSU for most runs as well as slugging percentage. Chloe Malau'ulu hit a line drive up the middle to load the bases.

Get our free mobile app

With one out, Paige Cook hit a sac fly into right field which scored Hull giving the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead. Fouts was able to get out of the inning only allowing one run after the bases were loaded. Head coach Patrick Murphy said that intentionally walking Davidson wasn't a hard decision.

"She's hitting .400. She leads the team in RBIs and home-runs. That's easy," Murphy said.

Alabama's offense responded with second baseman Megan Bloodworth's solo home run to tie up the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.  The freshman said she doesn't put any pressure on herself and just trusts her training to help the team out.

"I was just looking for something I could handle, and once I got two strikes, obviously anything that could be a strike you have to battle. She just threw the change up, and I just hit it," Bloodworth said.

MSU decided to go with a pitching change following the home run and Wesley retiring two hitters. Annie Willis came in for Wesley and threw four balls to Ashley Prange for a two-out walk. The Crimson Tide wasn't able to extend their lead in the bottom of the sixth as Ally Shipman struck out to end the inning.

Fouts went 1-2-3 against MSU batters in the top of the seventh. Bailey Dowling led off the bottom of the seventh with a single into right field, and Savannah Woodard came on to pinch run for the Tide. Kaylee Tow hit a ball past the MSU second baseman's glove into right field for a single which advanced Woodard to third base.

Jenna Lord was up to bat when Woodard scored on a wild pitch to win it for the Tide. Alabama won the first game of the series 2-1 and will face the Bulldogs Friday at 6 p.m. CST.