No. 3 Alabama Stays in SEC Title Hunt with Shutout over No. 21 South Carolina
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- Alabama softball's bats showed little life for most of Friday afternoon's game, but thanks to some timely hitting from Ana Roman and a clutch performance from Vic Molten in the circle, the Crimson Tide's SEC title chances haven't died off yet.
No. 3 Alabama beat No. 21 South Carolina 1-0 at Rhoads Stadium to take the game and the series from the Gamecocks for the 22nd shutout victory of the season.
Earlier in the day, Oklahoma lost to Texas A&M in a resumption of Thursday night's game, and with the win over the Gamecocks, Alabama is just half a game behind the Sooners heading into the final day of the regular season. (Oklahoma and Texas A&M will play a doubleheader on Saturday.)
"We need a big crowd tomorrow," Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. "It's the last home game of the regular season. I hope 4400 are here. We're playing for something."
The Crimson Tide and Gamecocks were locked in a pitchers duel until the fifth inning. Marlie Giles got the rally started with a two-out bloop single, and freshman Ana Roman drove Giles in with a double to the gap in right center.
Ana Roman drives in Marlie Giles with a two-out double
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"Going into the inning, I knew it was going to be a close game, so I just had a feeling that one person was going to get on, and it was going to be my job to score them," Roman said after the game. "That's what I went into that at-bat with."
Moten and Jocelyn Briski handled the rest in the circle. Moten started the game and pitched six shutout innings, only allowing three hits while working with no run support for four innings. She was backed up by her defense to help her get out of a few jams.
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Briski was called on to close out in the seventh and quickly retired the Gamecocks in order on 10 pitches. It was her third save in SEC play.
Alabama had bases loaded with one out in the second inning and could not score. In the third inning, the Tide had two on with two outs, and Audrey Vandagriff had a leadoff triple in the fourth inning, and Alabama still couldn't break through until Roman's RBI double in the fifth.
The offense has scored just five total runs over the team's last four games against Tennessee and South Carolina. Murphy isn't concerned that the offense is trending in a negative direction. He just wants to see better execution in the series finale.
"We had bases loaded with one out, that's the key hit situation that we always talk about," he said. "We could've blown it open right there. We had a triple with no outs–– same thing. It's just, somebody's got to do it."
Alabama (46-6, 18-5 SEC) and South Carolina (30-24, 7-16 SEC) will meet for the regular season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as No. 3 Alabama Stays in SEC Title Hunt with Shutout over No. 21 South Carolina.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 3:12 PM.