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What to know about No. 15 Alabama, this weekend’s opponent for No. 14 Arkansas softball | Whole Hog Sports

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What to know about No. 15 Alabama, this weekend’s opponent for No. 14 Arkansas softball | Whole Hog Sports


FAYETTEVILLE — Coach Courtney Deifel might not like the manner in which her Arkansas softball team is claiming SEC series wins, but it’s hard to argue with the results.

For the third straight weekend, the No. 14 Razorbacks (30-11, 9-6 SEC) won a rubber match to claim a series win against South Carolina last weekend. Arkansas knocked off Georgia and Missouri in similar fashion. The pattern has been the same in all three series wins: win the first game, lose the second game, then rally to win the third.

“Well, I don’t like that pattern so much, and I don’t think the team does either,” Deifel said. “I think this team doesn’t care about rankings. You just know when it’s an SEC game, or any game for that matter with the parity in the sport and how strong everybody is, it’s just digging in and finding a way to win.”

This weekend doesn’t get any easier as Alabama (30-10, 7-8), ranked No. 15 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, comes to Bogle Park.

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Arkansas rode a stellar pitching performance from left-hander Robyn Herron to claim the road series at South Carolina. Herron, the SEC Pitcher of the Week, went 2-0 and did not allow an earned run in 12 1/3 innings in the circle.

The two teams will start the series at 6 p.m. Friday, in a game that will be live-streamed on SEC Network+. Saturday’s game is set for 8 p.m. on SEC Network, and series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

What you need to know about Alabama:

Outlook

Alabama is one of the most storied softball programs in the SEC, but the Tide has stumbled some this season, dropping series to Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and last weekend to Texas A&M.

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Coach Patrick Murphy is in his 26th season at Alabama. He has led the program to 14 College World Series berths and owns more than 1,200 career wins.

“It’s kind of unheard of in college athletics now to stay that long and be that successful,” Deifel said of Murphy’s longevity. “He is the face of Alabama softball. I hope that I can have that long of a career here. Hopefully we can stay relevant and good enough to stay here as long as we want. We’ve had some really big coaches in this conference, and he’s definitely one of them.”

Alabama won its first 18 games of the season, but has gone 12-10 since then. The Crimson Tide’s only series win in SEC play came against Ole Miss. 

Their series with Texas A&M last weekend encapsulated their season: Alabama defeated the Aggies 2-0 in the opening game behind Kayla Beaver, then lost 17-6 and 9-4 in the next two games to drop the series.

Arkansas and Alabama did not play last season. In 2022, Arkansas claimed a series win.

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Pitchers

Beaver is no stranger to Arkansas. The senior right-hander dominated the Razorbacks 4-0 last season when she pitched for Central Arkansas. This season the transfer is 14-4 with a 1.42 ERA with 129 strikeouts over 123 innings pitched. She is holding opponents to a .199 batting average.

“She has the potential to go up and down, in and out,” Deifel said. “It looks like she has added a little velo. She lives in the upper 60s [MPH], and she’s hit 70. She’s very disciplined with her spin pitches.”

Last season, Beaver was 25-7 at UCA with a 1.15 ERA and 11 shutouts. This season she twirled a no-hitter in her Alabama debut.

Jaala Torrence, a senior right-hander, is 7-3 with a 2.23 ERA and 48 strikeouts with 11 walks in 47 innings. She had a complete-game win against North Alabama this season. In the postseason last year, she went 3-0 with 18 2/3 scoreless innings.

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Freshman right-hander Jocelyn Briski is 6-2 with a 2.96 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 49.2 innings. She has made 5 starts this season. She had a complete-game win against Georgia Tech in her college debut.

Position Players

The Crimson Tide may not have big offensive numbers, but they do know how to attack the defense, Deifel said. 

“I think that they get the job done,” Deifel said. “With their pitching staff, they have a chance to win any game that they’re in. They have a good mix of speed and they’ve driven the ball a little better this year. They have the offense to win games with the pitching as dominant as they have.”

Sophomore shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan leads the way for the Tide, batting .299 with 2 home runs and 22 RBI. She has started every game this season. Against Georgia, she belted a pair of doubles and a homer, and she had 2 tripled against Georgia Tech.

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Sophomore infielder Abby Duchscherer provides the big pop in the lineup. Duchscherer has 6 homers and 30 RBI with a .294 batting average. Sophomore utilityplayer Marlie Giles also has 6 homers and 10 RBIs across her 24 starts.

As a team, Alabama is batting .272.



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Alabama

Southern 88-85 Alabama A&M (Mar 5, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN

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Southern 88-85 Alabama A&M (Mar 5, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN


HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — — Terrance Dixon Jr.’s 19 points helped Southern defeat Alabama A&M 88-85 on Thursday.

Dixon shot 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Jaguars (15-16, 11-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Michael Jacobs scored 15 points while going 4 of 11 and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line, and added five rebounds. AJ Barnes shot 3 for 7 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.

Koron Davis finished with 23 points for the Bulldogs (17-14, 10-8). James Graham added 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals for Alabama A&M. Kintavious Dozier also had 12 points.

The Jaguars led by 10 points with 59 seconds to go, before the Bulldogs executed a three-point play from Bilal Abdur-Rahim then got a 3-pointer from Dozier in the span of nine seconds, cutting the deficit to four. A free throw battle closed out the result for the Jaguars.

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——

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.



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Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama

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Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama


Jaxon Richardson, the No. 27 overall recruit in the 2026 class per the Rivals Industry Ranking, has committed to Alabama.

The 6-foot-6 four-star small forward out of Southeastern Prep (FL) ultimately chose the Crimson Tide over USC, Creighton, and Ole Miss. He also received offers from Miami, Cincinnati, Michigan, Florida, Villanova, and others.

Richardson, a McDonald’s All-American, becomes the Crimson Tide’s third commitment of the 2026 cycle. He joins four-star shooting guard Qayden Samuels (No. 28 NATL) and four-star small forward Tarris Bouie (No. 54 NATL).

He’s the son of NBA veteran and two-time NBA Dunk Contest champion Jason Richardson. His older brother, Jase, played for Michigan State last season before being selected 25th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.

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More on Richardson

Rivals’ National Recruiting Analyst Jamie Shaw says Richardson is one of the most explosive players in the 2026 class:

Jaxon Richardson is able to combine fluid athleticism with explosive burst in a way no other player in this class can. He uses his athleticism to his advantage on the floor. He fills the outside channels with a purpose in transition, he is aggressive in the passing lanes, and he plays as a vertical floor spacer in the dunker spots and lob plays. Last summer, playing with the Florida Rebels on Nike’s EYBL Circuit, the 6-foot-6 wing averaged 12.8 points on 54.0 percent shooting and 10.5 attempts per game. Last high school season, he averaged 12.9 points on 61.0 percent shooting on 8.9 attempts per game. He is a highly efficient player, as 84.4 percent of his makes last high school season were at the rim.



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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets

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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets


Alabama baseball cruised to a win over Alabama State on Wednesday night, beating the Hornets 13-4 to complete the season sweep. The Crimson Tide tied a program record with nine stolen bases in one of the stranger contests that will be played this season.

The tone was set for a tumultuous night on the basepaths in the opening minutes of the game. Leadoff batter Bryce Fowler, who exited Tuesday’s game after getting beaned in the head, was walked, and promptly took second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch in Justin Lebron’s at-bat, paving the way for Lebron to steal second when he was ultimately walked as well.

The successful baserunning instantly paid off, as Brady Neal drove both in with a double to left-center field before John Lemm walked two at-bats later. Both runners stole their respective bases on the same pitch in Jason Torres’ plate appearance, meaning that four of the first five batters of the game stole a base.

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Alabama has been exceptional on the basepaths, sitting at 30-for-30 on the season. Lebron, who swiped two bags on Wednesday, leads the team with 12. The junior had an up-and-down night, hitting his eighth home run of the season, but also committing an error at shortstop for the fourth consecutive game.

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“Get those things out of there now, baby. The dude is unbelievable,” an unconcerned Rob Vaughn said on Tuesday of Lebron’s errors. “We’re going to look up at the end of the year, and that guy is going to have five or six errors, which one he’s got right now, and we’ll be like, ‘Man, that guy is the best of all time to do it.’”

Wednesday’s game was a very prototypical midweek contest with no shortage of quirks and oddities throughout its nearly four-hour runtime. Fifteen Alabama batters were walked, falling just one shy of the program record, and the hit by pitch record was tied as seven batters were plunked.

The game was never competitive from an on-field standpoint. After barely escaping with a 2-1 win in the first matchup with the Hornets two weeks ago, this was a far more accurate representation of what these games typically look like, as Alabama now leads the all-time series 15-0.

Freshman Joe Chiarodo made his first career start, allowing two hits and one walk over two scoreless innings. He was named the winning pitcher. Luke Smyers, Connor Lehman, Anthony Pesci and Tate Robertson were the other pitchers to take the mound. Lehman allowed a three-run blast in the sixth inning, and those were the only runs until the incredibly-named Skywalker Mann drove in a run off Robertson in the ninth.

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Perhaps the most shocking figure from the game was that Alabama had 19 runners left on base. The Crimson Tide left the bases loaded in four different innings. As stated, this was just a bizarre baseball game across the board. With the midweeks out of the way, the Crimson Tide gets to prepare for its final weekend tune-up before SEC play as North Florida heads into Tuscaloosa on Friday.



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