Briski kept enough balls in the park, while Tide hitters sent enough over the fences.
Ishan’t lie. Alabama’s opponent today frightened me. It is the best offense in the history of the sport, and despite the Tide’s rejuvenated bats and dominant pitching, there’s only so much you can do to keep their swings inside the fences while putting your own into the bleachers.
And you could tell the Tide knew they’d need runs, so they came out very sloppy. ‘Bama came out early swinging at everything — Griff and Lex both in particular were chopping at slop. It wasn’t the plate discipline you’d like to see. But it did work initially, as the Tide garnered a run and led after one.
Those kinds of at-bats won’t win games for you, and indeed, Alabama’s offense stalled out.
But, for the first half of the game, the Tide’s aggressive approach in the circle paid off, as we settled into an uncharacteristic pitchers’ duel, fueled greatly by the Tide stranding far too many runners on base. But, the levee was bound to break at some point, and break it did, as Briski got touched up with back-to-back two-out solo homers, one by Rylee Slimp and the other by the most dangerous player in the tourney, Megan Grant.
Suddenly down 3–1, with the game heading into the 5th, we found ourselves in genuine nailbiter territory, with each team now having to rely on the other’s strength: How long could UCLA’s pitching hold up? Could Alabama plate some runs and maybe find some power?
Trust the Gut, we should. Because the 5th inning changed the entire ballgame. It began with second-team All-American Alexi Pupillo putting one deep into right for the game-tying 3–3 homer.
But, ‘Bama wasn’t done yet. After back-to-back one-out singles, Brooke Wells’ 24th homer on the season could not have been bigger in the bottom of the 6th: a three-run piss missile over center-right — that would be your game-winner.
6–3 Tide, heading into the Top of the 7th for the Bruins. And, Briski would slam the door shut on UCLA’s abortive comeback attempt.
Alabama knew it was going to have to have power in this series. If not match the Bruins, who are the best gorilla-ball team in the sport, at least keep that fairly average Bruins pitching staff honest. It also knew that it wasn’t going to be able to come in and hold the Bruins to one hit, a dozen strikeouts, and a tidy one-hour shutout — the entire staff was going to need to get their outs when they could, and above all, take the war to the Bruins.
There are some things to clean up here, like plate discipline that stranded five runners. But you cannot be more pleased with ‘Bama’s power appearing when it was needed the most — and, most importantly, not being illusory and simply evaporating in the Tide’s biggest moment against perhaps the toughest foe in the WCWS. And no one expected ‘Bama to outclub the Bruins. But maybe we should stop doubting this team and measuring them by those who came before and fell short. This team stands and falls on its own, and has shown its not the one-hit wonder of their predecessors.
Just a phenomenal job by everyone on Team 30, as the Tide advances onward, and the Bruins become the most dangerous team in the loser’s bracket.
Roll Tide
