Montana Fouts no-hitter and a walk-off: Alabama softball takes series win over South Carolina
Montana Fouts pitched a no-hitter and a complete nine-inning game to help Alabama softball win the series over South Carolina, but once again the Crimson Tide was unable to get the sweep this weekend at Rhoads Stadium.
The second game of the series was delayed to Saturday due to rain Friday and the Crimson Tide (28-12, 6-6 SEC) secured a 4-0 win over the Gamecocks (27-11, 4-8) as Fouts threw a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts.
Kenleigh Cahalan got an RBI in the ninth inning to walk off Thursday's series opener. Fouts threw a complete game with 15 strikeouts, allowing only three hits and two walks. In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, Alabama's bats were silenced as the Crimson Tide fell 3-1. Ashley Prange had a solo home run.
Fouts shines through adversity
Fouts started the weekend with a perfect game through four innings before allowing three straight hits to load the bases, including a single that hit Fouts in the side. Alabama's ace got out of the jam, allowing one run following a dropped third strike.
Fouts threw her second no-hitter of the season Saturday. She had 10 strikeouts while allowing two walks and four baserunners. For the weekend, she pitched 16 innings with 26 strikeouts while allowing one run and three hits.
"It's unreal, especially on the second day that she's seen them, I know everyone got a day off with the rain day," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. "To do what she did the second time in a series is just unreal, it seems like she gets better and better usually the Sunday (series finale), this case the Saturday. I don't know what else to say about her, it's just unreal: She got all the awards last week and probably will get them all again this week."
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Patrick Murphy's wishes come true twice
In the third inning of Game 2, Alabama loaded the bases for Ally Shipman, who singled to score the first run. That led to a pitching change for the Gamecocks, giving Alabama to practice what Murphy has been hoping for: batters to pass the baton and not let a new pitcher get comfortable.
Alabama continued a rally that saw five straight batters get on base. Bailey Dowling hit sacrifice fly and Alabama pulled off a double steal to end the inning with four runs.
Questions continue behind Fouts
In the four SEC series this season, Alabama has not started Fouts four times and the Crimson Tide has fallen in three of the games and five of the last eight games where Fouts did not start. Last Sunday, Missouri won as Lauren Esman, Alex Salter and Jaala Torrence combined to allow 11 runs on 10 hits in five innings. On Saturday in Game 3, the Crimson Tide started strong behind Esman with three strikeouts in the first inning, but she allowed three runs before recording an out in the fourth. Torrence entered to pitch four innings of scoreless ball, a sign of improvement.
Up Next
Alabama travels to Samford for the midweek on Tuesday before traveling to Mississippi State for a weekend series.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama softball gets series win over South Carolina behind Montana Fouts
