Alabama Softball Clinches Spot in Round 2 with Victory Over Auburn

In the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday evening, Alabama’s softball team defeated Auburn with a score of 3-2. This victory propels them into the second round where they will go up against South Carolina on Wednesday night.

Alabama was seeded 10th in the SEC Tournament, a position that head coach Patrick Murphy, accustomed to winning six SEC regular-season titles, finds unusual.

As mentioned earlier, the 15-seed Auburn stirred the Alabama Crimson Tide and their starting pitcher Jocelyn Briskin early in the game during the first inning. This was due to Tigers' shortstop Nelia Peralta—who tops the team in runs scored for the season—adding another tally to her record with a homerun hit out past the right-field fence. It’s worth noting that Alabama has conceded a first-inning home run in two out of their last three matches.

Briski has often faced challenges whenever she stops running, and her start in this particular race began to cause some concern. Nevertheless, similar to how the Iron Bowl disregards previous performances, all prior mistakes made by the participants are irrelevant now.

As is typical in rivalries, Briski adhered to the pattern during this game by throwing more than 100 pitches.

As Briski moved past her shaky beginning, Alabama’s offense compensated during the initial innings. Following Marlie Giles’ single at the start of the second inning, shortstop Salen Hawkins continued the rally with an RBI double into right-center field, getting points on the board for the Crimson Tide.

In the third inning, Alabama's second baseman Kali Heivilin capitalized on the renewed energy and hit her fourth triple of the year, allowing right fielder Lauren Johnson to score and take the lead. Two more batters followed before pitcher Hawkins extended their advantage when she drove in Heivilin with a successful sac fly, making the score 3-1.

Alabama’s defense kept shutting down Auburn, but the tide turned when right fielder Icess Tresvik drove in the mentioned Nelia Peralta, reducing Alabama's lead to 3-2.

Nevertheless, Murphy trusted Briski to throw a complete game in this high-stakes matchup heading into the seventh frame. Briski struck out Auburn's first batter, grounded out the second and despite allowing a single, she struck out the Tigers' final batter.

On Briski's 107 pitches, she allowed two runs on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Auburn's only extra-base hit was that home run given up in the very first inning.

Alabama will play 7-seed South Carolina on Wednesday evening. 6-seed Florida will face 11-seed Ole Miss at 4 p.m. CT and the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks will go head-to-head 35 minutes after the conclusion of that game.

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This piece was initially published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Alabama Softball Eliminates Auburn to Progress to Round 2 of SEC Tournament .