MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Clint Myers has swiftly fulfilled his promise to take the Auburn softball team to the Women’s College World Series, while Alabama and Patrick Murphy are making a return trip.
The rivals — one a fast-rising program and other a more traditional power — will make up a quarter of the eight-team field at the World Series, which will begin Thursday in Oklahoma City. No. 4 seed Auburn (54-9) and sixth-seeded Alabama (47-13) are on opposite sides of the bracket and wouldn’t meet before the championship game.
Auburn (54-9) will take on LSU at 1:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPN), the only team to beat it in the last 13 games, in its first game in the double-elimination event. Alabama (47-13) will face Michigan at 7 p.m. Thursday. Auburn and Alabama are two of the five Southeastern Conference schools (LSU, Tennessee, and reigning national champion Florida) in the field.
Auburn, which won the SEC tournament, had never made it to a super regional before sweeping Louisiana-Lafayette in a best-of-three series in Auburn, Alabama. The Tigers rallied from five-run deficit in the seventh inning and then scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth for a 12-11 victory in Game 1. Auburn capitalized on 16 walks in the victory.
Myers isn’t surprised the Tigers have reached this point. The second-year Auburn coach led Arizona State to two NCAA titles and seven World Series appearances in eight years.
“The first time I met the team at Arizona State and the first time I met the team at Auburn, I said, ‘Ladies, we’re going to the College World Series. We’re not here to rebuild. We’re here to win, and we’re going to start winning from Day One,'” Myers said. “And our practices are going to reflect that mentality.”
It also isn’t surprising that the Crimson Tide have made it this far. This is Alabama’s 10th World Series appearance. It won the national title in 2012 and finishing second to SEC rival Florida last season.
Alabama also had to manufacture its super regional comeback after losing Game 1 to Oklahoma. Marisa Runyan snapped an 0-for-13 slump with a sixth-inning grand slam with two outs to wipe out a 3-1 deficit in Game 3.
Freshman Alexis Osorio threw 20-plus innings for the Crimson Tide in the series.
“Our theme of the year has been grit since August 25,” Murphy said after the decisive Game 3. Chaunsey Bell got her teammates bracelets reading “GRIT” and, said Murphy, “I’ve been wearing mine ever since.”
While Auburn is a newcomer to the super regionals, Alabama is the only team to make it that far every season since the round was created in 2005.
Runyon has tied Charlotte Morgan’s single-season Crimson Tide record with 79 RBIs while hitting 19 home runs. Osorio (21-8, 1.64 ERA) and Sydney Littlejohn (16-1, 1.49) have been dominant in the circle.
Auburn’s Emily Carosone and Alabama’s Haylie McCleney are tied for the league lead in hitting with .453 averages. Carosone also is first in RBIs (80) and runs scored (85) for the SEC’s top offensive team.
The Tigers’ 12-1 stretch started after losing a home series to the Crimson Tide and allowing 31 runs in the three games. Auburn has given up 39 runs in the 13 games since then.
“After the Alabama game, we really tried to turn some things around defensively and pitching wise,” Myers said. “Our pitching has been extremely good since then.
“As long as we have life, we’re fighting. Now they’re believing all we have to do is play Auburn softball. It’s difficult to say when it happened, but there’s clearly a belief system they have that they’re going to win.”
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