It’s not the Third Saturday in October, but the hype might be just as big.
The Crimson Tide won the game but it wasn’t exactly the blowout that might have been expected. In the 2nd inning, Jena Young scored on a Salen Hawkins sac fly. Lauren Johnson led off the 3rd with a solo dinger.
LoJo Launches One💥📺ESPN+ | https://t.co/Quya4NbJ4t#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/1UPWdGSa15
In the 5th, Brooke Wells doubled in a pair to make it 4-0. In the final frame, Ana Roman doubled and Alexis Pupillo golfed a drop ball over the center field wall.
Pupillo Power💪📺ESPN+ | https://t.co/Quya4NbJ4t#Team30 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/ZxYdN9Z7sZ
Vic Moten had a complete game 2-hitter and allowed no hits in the final five frames. She whiffed 10 Dragonettes with no walks.* Alabama had 7 hits, including two doubles by Roman. Bama batters had zero walks in the game. I am too lazy to do the research, but that hasn’t happened very often this season.
* I am probably jinxing it but… Crimson Tide pitching has not allowed a walk over the last 27 innings.
Vic Moten and Kaitlyn Pallozzi are among the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 finalists for the 2026 NFCA Division I Freshman of the Year award.
It doesn’t appear that the SEC handed out awards this week (???). No recognition from D1Softball or Softball America for Bama came to fruition.
Embry-Riddle head coach & Alabama legend Kelsi Dunne Diaz earned her 300th career win on Saturday. A four-time All-American and two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year with the Crimson Tide, Dunne Diaz is in her 12th season leading ERAU. pic.twitter.com/mKBsCVfebz
Softball America 13 ↑ 8 ↑ 6 ↑ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 4 ↑ 1 ↓ 2 ↓ 3 – Evidentially, sweeping Minnesota – who is 14-30 – is enough for Nebraska to jump both Alabama and Oklahoma.
D1Softball 14 ↑ 10 ↑ 9 ↑ 8 ↑ 5 ↔ 5 ↑ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 4 ↑ 3 ↑ 2 ↔ 2
USAToday/NFCA 16 ↑ 13 ↑ 9 ↑ 7 ↑ 6 ↔ 6 ↔ 6 ↓ 7 ↑ 4 ↑ 3 ↔ 3 ↔ 3
ESPN/USA Softball 15 ↑ 10 ↑ 8 ↑ 5 ↑ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 5 ↑ 3 ↑ 2 ↔ 2
The opener is on SECN+ Streaming. Game 2 is on ESPN2 and the finale airs on SECN.
Rain is expected on Saturday which forced the change of game time. Looking at the forecast, they probably should have gone earlier. There is a good chance the time of the first pitch is altered again.. Sunday and Monday should be okay with mostly cloudy skies.
The Vols started off the season red hot, winning their first 26 games before tasting defeat. Their pre-conference slate was highlighted by wins over UCLA, Florida State, Oregon, and Nebraska, followed by a sweep of LSU in the SEC opener. It wasn’t until the next SEC series against Mississippi State in Starkville that UT took a loss. Then the troubles began. Tennessee would beat Florida in the first game of their 3-game set, but drop the next two. That was followed by losing two of three to Ole Miss and one defeat to South Carolina — all three on their home field. That represented a 4-6 record in the conference in a ten game stretch.
They swept Kentucky in Lexington about as bad as Alabama did, but lost a roadie to #12 Duke Wednesday a week ago [NO, that is NOT the same as losing to 19-26 Samford]. Tennessee volunteered to not play a series last weekend due to the .
UT is 15-3 overall at home this season and 6-3 in SEC play in Knoxville.
If you know softball, then you know the name Karlyn Pickens (11-5, 1.43 ERA). She was named the 2025 SEC Pitcher of the Year when she went 25-11 and tallied a minuscule 1.17 ERA as the Vols made it to the Final 4 of the 2025 Women’s College World Series. In early March of this season, she suffered an arm strain during a game against Belmont but returned to play about two weeks later and spun a complete game one-hitter at Mississippi State. However, she got hit pretty hard in the two losses to the Gators and Ole Miss found success against her as well. She tossed a no-hitter against Kentucky on April 11, but most recently she was knocked out of the 1st inning against Duke, leaving the frame down 3-0 with no outs recorded.