Alabama Softball Opens Fall Schedule, Plays to Tie in Sand Mountain Showdown

The Crimson Tide will host Georgia Tech in a doubleheader Saturday at Rhoads Stadium.

Christopher Walsh | Oct 12, 2022

After its regular season game in the Sand Mountain Showdown was cancelled due to two rainouts last spring, the Alabama Crimson Tide softball team finally played in Albertville, Ala, on Wednesday to open fall play.

Alabama and Jacksonville played seven innings before a sellout crowd, but the exhibition ended with the score tied 6-6.

Crimson Tide coach Patrick Murphy was eager to see the team's seven newcomers in action.

Senior transfer Lauren Esman, who began her collegiate career at Michigan, started and threw three shutout innings, with one hit allowed. She also went 1-for-2 at the plate including a two-run triple.

Freshman Abby Duchscherer went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Ashley Prange, Aubrey Barnhart and Jordan Stephens also had an RBI.

Faith Hensley was 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs.

The game was scoreless until the fourth inning. Alabama's first rally plated three runs as Prange drove in Hensley with an RBI-single, M’Kay Gidley scored on an RBI-fielder’s choice from Aubrey Barnhart, and Duchscherer singled in Kat Grill.

Esman's triple came in the fifth inning.

Stephens tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with her RBI-single.

Jacksonville State's runs came on a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and a four-run rally in the sixth with all of the runs coming in on RBI-singles.

Alabama will host Georgia Tech at Rhoads Stadium.for a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT.

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

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