Alabama advances past LSU

• By WILLIAM WEATHERS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 10, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:25 a.m.

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What else did you expect.

Alabama and LSU, long-standing Southeastern Conference rivals, needed every bit of Friday’s postseason tournament semifinal before settling the issue.

The Crimson Tide homered twice and thwarted a pair of late rallies, including the sixth and seventh innings, to prevail 7-4 before a season-high Tiger Park crowd of 1,337.

“We kept battling,” LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said. “Bottom line, there’s no question Alabama’s better than we are this year. We beat them three out of four last year. They were better than us this year. We have to be able to stop them and we haven’t been able to.”

Second-seeded and No. 3 ranked Alabama (51-5) advances to today’s championship game against top seeded-Florida, a 6-1 winner over Tennessee, at 12:30 p.m. where the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament will be on the line.

The game will be televised live by Fox Sports Network Houston (Cox Cable Ch. 38).

Third-seeded and No. 15 ranked LSU (42-16) was attempting to become the first team to win the SEC’s tournament title on its home field. The Tigers were also trying to defend their title and play in their eighth title game over the last nine years.

LSU will now have to wait until Sunday to learn its postseason fate when the NCAA’s Division I Softball Committee announces its 64-team bracket at 9 p.m. on ESPNU and ESPNews. The Tigers are expected to receive one of 33 at-large berths into regional play that begins Friday.

“It’s exciting to play a team like this close,” LSU senior right fielder Quinlan Duhon said. “You wish we could win them, but it shows us where we are and what we need to work on and that’s a good thing.”

LSU scored twice in the sixth and had the go-ahead runs on base before freshman pitcher Kelsi Dunne was summoned in relief of starter Charlotte Morgan, who yielded five of the Tigers’ eight hits and three runs.

Duhon (2-for-4) homered well over the batting cages in left field and Erika Sluss singled in Tayl’r Hollis before Dunne, the SEC’s freshman of the year, fanned ninth-place hitter Jazz Jackson on three straight pitches to end the inning.

Alabama, which is in pursuit of its fourth SEC tournament crown, extended its lead to 7-3 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth with run-producing hits from Jordan Praytor (3-4) on a double and Dani Woods on a single.

“First, I’d like to give a lot of credit to LSU,” said Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy, whose team defeated LSU for the fourth time this season. “They are a great team. It was the fourth time being on their field and it was a great game. It was back and forth. We had some really good at-bats that helped us get the win.”