No. 2 UA softball team sweeps past Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. | The second-ranked University of Alabama softball team had already stranded 18 runners on the weekend by the time third baseman Kelley Montalvo stepped up to the plate with runners on first and second base with one out in the fifth inning of a scoreless game in Sunday’s series finale at No. 15 Mississippi State.

When Montalvo squared to bunt on the first two pitches, it was worth wondering if Crimson Tide coach Patrick Murphy had all but given up on the idea of bringing those runners home. But on the third pitch Montalvo swung away and rifled a double off the wall in left-center field to drive in two runs. The junior from Miami scored soon after to give Alabama a 3-0 victory and a series sweep over the Bulldogs.

Alabama improved to 24-3 overall, 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play, while Mississippi State fell to 22-9, 1-5 in the league.

Montalvo had no intention of actually bunting with the chance to bring in some runs. She was just following the instructions of her coach, who wanted to test MSU’s defensive approach if he needed to lay down a bunt if the situation came up again.

“We were going to see what the defense would do, what the third baseman was going to do, who was crashing,” Montalvo said. “It was a fake drag.

“Murphy called the play off and gave me the ‘hit away,’ and I hit away.”

Montalvo took a ball and a strike before banging the double.

“It was right inside and she’d been throwing me out, out, out,” Montalvo said. “I just felt good on it. The bat felt right on it and it found a gap.”

Shortstop Kellie Eubanks, who had led off the inning with a bloop single to left field and moved to second on outfielder Katie Johnson’s sacrifice bunt, scored from second. Center fielder Brittany Rogers, who had reached on an infield single, came around all the way from first to beat out a throw to the plate.

Montalvo hustled over to third on the throw home and scored when second baseman Lauren Parker reached on an error.

“We were taking anyway,” Murphy said of his fake bunt call. “We were swinging at so many bad pitches we decided to put the take on about the fifth inning.

“When [Montalvo] got to third she high-fived me and said, ‘About time.’”

The fifth-inning outburst gave Alabama all the offense it needed against a Mississippi State team that never gained any traction against senior Tide starter Chrissy Owens (8-0), who scattered seven hits (three of which came on bloop singles in the final inning) with four strikeouts.

“No walks,” Murphy said. “That’s a big thing for her.”

Said Owens, “I was just going to go out today and go at them. We were getting them to ground out, anything we could do to get them out.”

Owens benefitted from superior defense, including two double plays. The Bulldogs got a leadoff single in the third, but Parker stifled the threat before it started when she snagged a one-out line drive near second base, turned in air and threw to catch the runner trying to get back to first to end the inning.

In the seventh Montalvo gobbled up a grounder after another leadoff single and turned a 5-4-3 double play, flipping to Parker at second so she could zing it to Charlotte Morgan to get the batter at first.

After dropping the final game of a three-game series at home against Tennessee last weekend and losing the second game of a doubleheader against Florida last Wednesday, Murphy was pleased to get an SEC sweep.

“Away from home, too,” he said. “The people who win [the league] eventually are going to be the ones who do great things on the road.”

Alabama will travel to Chattanooga to play Kent State and UT-Chattanooga on Wednesday, then visit Kentucky next weekend for a three-game series.

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.