TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alexis Osorio was dominant in the circle, and Reagan Dykes worked a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday to lift the No. 16 national seed and No. 15 Alabama softball team to a 1-0 victory against unseeded and No. 1 Minnesota in Game 3 of the NCAA tournament’s Tuscaloosa Regional at Rhoads Stadium.
With the win, Alabama (44-16) advances to its 15th-straight NCAA Regional final. It won 33-straight NCAA Regional games and has played for a title every season since 2003.
The shutout over Minnesota (55-4), which is the No. 2 seed in the regional, is the 25th of the season for Crimson Tide, which is one shy of the single-season school record.
Osorio (22-7) allowed only two hits and walked five in a complete-game effort. She struck out 11 and needed 180 pitches to outduel Sara Groenewegen (30-3).
The Tide were held hitless until the third inning and the Golden Gophers only had four baserunners in regulation before tallying its first hit in the top of the eighth.
Demi Turner, making her first start since April 1, had two of Alabama’s four hits.
Minnesota drew two walks in the first three innings and Turner tallied the first hit for either team with a two-out single in the bottom of the third.
Osorio retired 10-straight batters before allowing a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh. The runner advanced to second on a groundout and, after a popup, a hit-by-pitch put two on base for the Gophers with two out. After a long battle at the plate, Osorio forced Groenewegen to pop up in foul territory to end the half inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, Bailey Hemphill poked a two-out single up the middle and pinch-runner Mari Cranek stole second but a fly ball ended the inning.
Minnesota led off the top of the eighth with its first hit of the day, a single up the middle, and followed that with a walk after a 14-pitch at-bat. With two outs, Alabama intentionally walked Kendyl Lindaman to load the bases. With a full count, Osorio induced a groundout from Maddie Houlihan to strand the bases loaded.
With good speed on the base paths in the bottom of the ninth in Elissa Brown and Chandler Dare, Marisa Runyon was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Dykes then walked on a 3-1 count.
Alabama will face the winner of Saturday’s night’s final game at 1:30 p.m. today.
n On Friday, Top-seeded Alabama rallied from an early deficit to beat fourth-seeded Albany 5-1.
Alabama fell behind early after a second-inning RBI single by Albany, but a solo home run by Dykes in the bottom half tied it up. Alabama tacked on one more run in the third and three in the fifth to account for the final margin.
Brown scored two of the team’s five runs at the leadoff position, drawing a season-high three walks. Dykes’ home run was part of a 2-for-3 day, and Hemphill added a two-run shot in the fifth for her ninth home run.
Turner entered as a defensive replacement in the top of the sixth and walked in the bottom half.
Madi Moore pitched 2 1/3 innings to start the game, but Sydney Littlejohn (16-8) earned the win. She needed 58 pitches in 4 2/3 shutout innings. She allowed two baserunners.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.