The Alabama Crimson Tide softball team just completed a gritty, hard-fought sweep of the South Carolina Gamecocks, and while it wasn't always pretty, it was exactly what the doctor ordered. With this three-game series win, the Tide can now turn their attention to scoreboard watching as they jockey for postseason positioning.

Head coach Patrick Murphy stuck with the same lineup, and as expected, Jocelyn Briski got the start in the circle. She wasn't bad, but she also wasn't at her sharpest. South Carolina struck first in the top half of the inning when a pair of singles and a two-out error by Jena Young—on a sharply hit ball that ate her up—allowed a run to cross the plate.

But as they've done all season, the Tide answered immediately. Who else but Brooke Wells? After Alexis Pupillo led off with a one-out single, Wells crushed a two-run home run to put Alabama on top. The crowd erupted as the ball sailed over the fence, a moment that felt like the spark the Tide needed.

Briski battled through the fifth, surrendering two more singles before being lifted for Vic Moten, who got the final out of the inning. But the drama was far from over. After the Tide went quietly in the bottom of the fifth, Moten ran into trouble in the sixth. She got two quick outs, but the third batter ripped a double down the left field line, just beyond a diving Audrey Vandagriff. A walk followed, and then a high chopper to first baseman Salen Hawkins led to a hurried throw that trickled off Wells's glove, allowing the tying run to score. In hindsight, Hawkins probably should have just held onto the ball, or Wells should have come off the bag.

With the game tied at two, the Tide needed a hero. Step forward, again, Brooke Wells. In the bottom of the sixth, she crushed a ball to the warning track that ticked off the center fielder's glove, putting her at second base. Kinley Pate came in to pinch-run and moved to third on a groundout by Young. Then, with Marlie Giles at the plate, a wild pitch on ball four allowed Pate to scamper home with the go-ahead run—and what would prove to be the game-winner.

With three outs to go, Moten (17-4) looked every bit the grizzled veteran, mowing down the final three Gamecocks with poise and precision. It wasn't a masterpiece, but in the world of postseason softball, sometimes you just have to find a way to win. The Tide did exactly that, and now the scoreboard watching begins.

Roll Tide.