Tag Archives: Kaila Hunt

Star Series: Pitchers and power bats push baseball and softball to 8-1 record

Posted on March 26, 2013 by | Comments Off

Jackie Traina wins the highest honor for the Alabama softball team. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

Jackie Traina wins the highest honor for the Alabama softball team. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

Each week for the duration of the Alabama baseball and softball seasons, Daily Bama Blog contributor Brett Hudson will track outstanding individual performances with the Star Series. Three players from each team will get 1-star, 2-stars and 3-stars with a running season tally.

Baseball

Click here to read about Alabama’s perfect 5-0 week, including success on the road in Southeastern Conference play for the first time in quite a while.

3-Star Player: Second baseman Kyle Oversteet. Oversteet, a serious contender for SEC Player of the Week, batted .688 (11-16) in the five games of the week, leading the team in that category to go along with total bases (15), slugging percentage (.938), walks (six) and on-base percentage (.773). Overstreet has one triple and scored five runs while batting in two more.

2-Star Player: Relief pitcher Ray Castillo. Castillo appeared three times over the course of the week, earning the save in all three of them. Castillo’s three appearances had him pitch 4.1 innings and give up just three hits with no walks while striking out five batters. Castillo held opposing batters to a .176 batting average in his three appearances on the week.

1-Star Player: First baseman Austen Smith. Smith held the power bat in the lineup for the Tide this week, hitting Alabama’s only homerun and slugging .700. Smith’s four extra-base hits tied for the team-lead for the week. Smith led the team with six RBI in the five games and in fielding percentage, amongst those with mor than 20 fielding opportunities, with a .974.

Season Tally:

Ben Moore: 6 stars

Brett Booth: 4 stars

Austen Smith: 4 stars

Georgie Salem: 3 stars

Cary Baxter: 3 stars

Kenny Roberts: 3 stars

Ray Castillo: 3 stars

Kyle Overstreet: 3 stars

Mikey White: 2 stars

Jon Keller: 2 stars

Charley Sullivan: 2 stars

Jake Hubbard: 1 star

Softball

Click here to read about Alabama’s series win over Auburn, including tweets from a huge accomplishment by Alabama coach Patrick Murphy.

3-Star Player: Pitcher Jackie Traina. Traina pitched 12.1 innings over the course of three appearances in four games, allowing five hits and two runs, both earned, while striking out 14 batters. At the plate, Traina was 5-9 with three runs scored and two RBI.

2-Star Player: First baseman Jadyn Spencer Spencer had one of the hottest bats in the Auburn series, combining to hit 6-10 with three runs and five RBI.

1-Star Player: Second baseman Kaila Hunt. Hunt went 5-12 from the plate in the three games, including 2-2 with two RBI and two runs scored in the Sunday blowout win.

Season Tally:

Haylie McCleney: 9 stars

Jackie Traina: 9 stars

Kaila Hunt: 8 stars

Kayla Braud: 5 stars

Danielle Richard: 4 stars

Andrea Hawkins: 3 stars

Jadyn Spencer: 2 stars

Keima Davis: 1 star

Danae Hays: 1 star

Comments Off

Posted in baseball, softball

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Star Series: Two baseball sophomores honored

Posted on March 19, 2013 by | Comments Off

Alabama catcher Brett Booth rounding third base to score one of Alabama's 15 runs in the Sunday 15-1 victory over Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

Alabama catcher Brett Booth rounding third base to score one of Alabama’s 15 runs in the Sunday 15-1 victory over Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

Each week for the duration of the Alabama baseball and softball seasons, Daily Bama Blog contributor Brett Hudson will track outstanding individual performances with the Star Series. Three players from each team will get 1-star, 2-stars and 3-stars with a running season tally.

Baseball

After splitting the midweek series with Memphis, Alabama won the first SEC series of the season against Tennessee, two games to one. The Tuesday loss is recapped here, while the Wednesday win is recapped here and here.

Click here to get a special report from Morgan Upton from the Friday game and click here to recap the rest of the series, mostly Alabama’s 15-1 win on Sunday.

3-Star Player: Right fielder Ben Moore. Moore was 8-19 from the plate, sporing a .421 batting average in the five games. Moore put up a superb .500 on-base percentage in the five games and .579 slugging percentage, with three of his eight hits being for extra-bases. Moore also stole four bases and had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

2-Star Player: Starting pitcher Charley Sullivan. Sullivan started the Tennessee series off by pitching a complete game three-hitter to push Alabama to a 12-1 win Friday night. Sullivan struck out seven batters and walked just one.

1-Star Player: Catcher Brett Booth. Booth led the team with a .455 batting average for the five games of the week (10-22 from the plate), with three RBI and five runs scored. Center fielder Georgie Salem almost had this spot with seven RBI in five games, but the batting average almost 100 points less than Booth’s was too much to overlook.

Season Tally:

Ben Moore: 6 stars

Brett Booth: 4 stars

Georgie Salem: 3 stars

Cary Baxter: 3 stars

Austen Smith: 3 stars

Kenny Roberts: 3 stars

Mikey White: 2 stars

Jon Keller: 2 stars

Charley Sullivan: 2 stars

Jake Hubbard: 1 star

Ray Castillo: 1 star

Softball

The Crimson Tide swept the week 3-0, taking to the road to beat South Carolina 6-4 on Friday, 5-3 on Saturday and 7-6 on Sunday.

3-Star Player: Second baseman Kaila Hunt. Hunt led the tema with both a .600 batting average and a 1.000 slugging percentage against the Lady Gamecocks. In her six hits in 10 at-bats, she had one double and one home run, totalling with two RBI.

2-Star Player: Left fielder Kayla Braud. Braud led the team with five runs scored in just three games while batting .33 (4-12). Braud had three RBI and was 3-3 in stolen base attempts.

1-Star Player: Center fielder Haylie McCleney. McCleney batted an even .300 (3-10) in her three games against the Lady Gamecocks, including a double, a triple and three RBI. McCleney stole on base and sported a slugging percentage of .600.

Season Tally:

Haylie McCleney: 9 stars

Kaila Hunt: 7 stars

Jackie Traina: 6 stars

Kayla Braud: 5 stars

Danielle Richard: 4 stars

Andrea Hawkins: 3 stars

Keima Davis: 1 star

Danae Hays: 1 star

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

SEC schedule hitting Alabama softball early with tough road series with Lacy Vols

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off

After Alabama’s 8-4 home loss to then-No. 4 Florida, coach Patrick Murphy said the experience will benefit the Crimson Tide’s youth as it feels, “that pressure,” in every game in the Southeastern Conference slate ahead of the Tide.

That pressure came early as the Tide (22-1) is now in Knoxville for a three-game series with the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers (19-3).

“That’s the team that’s picked to win the SEC East, that’s for sure,” Murphy said. “They have a lot of kids back, they have their pitching back. Three-fourths of their infield was voted preseason All-SEC: second, short and third. a heck of a good lineup, a lot of fast lefties. Not as much pop as we’ve seen in the past.”

Ivy Renfroe

Ivy Renfroe

Alabama has to deal with a set of siblings that pushes the Lady Vols, and has done so for a while now. Ivy Renfroe, the senior and oldest of the three Renfroes on the team, will enter the series with an

Ellen Renfroe

Ellen Renfroe

incredible 0.88 WHIP (walks and hits allowed per innings pitched) and a
0.91 ERA (1.07 and 2.02 on her career).

The junior, Ellen, however, is even better than that, tallying nine starts compared to Ivy’s five thus far in 2013 and has amassed with 67 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched and an 0.80 ERA. The youngest, freshman infielder Anna, has played in three games and sports an on-base percentage of .333.

“The Renfroe sisters are a good combination. They always have good speed,” Hunt said. “They’re just like us.”

With all three games having been sold out as early as Wednesday, Hunt is tasked with leading the nine freshmen and sophomores, all of whom have started more than onve this season, through a heavy in magnitude series.

“Just learn from here, learn from now,” Hunt said. “Just try to keep consistent mentally and try to play the game you’ve been playing for 15 years. It’s softball. In tough situations, it’s more mental than it is the physical part of it, because you know how to play.”

You can watch Murphy and Hunt talk about Tennessee for yourself from the press conference video after the loss to Florida by clicking here. Video is at the bottom of the page, and Tennessee talk starts at about the 3:15 mark.

Comments Off

Posted in softball, Tennessee

Tagged , , , , , ,

No. 1 Alabama softball drops first game of the 2013 season to No. 4 Florida

Posted on March 6, 2013 by | Comments Off

Alabama’s steady J-Train had a rare mishap Wednesday and left the opposition an easy opportunity to pass through Rhoads Stadium with a win.

Crimson Tide pitcher Jackie Traina have up six runs and nine hits in the last two innings that led the No. 4 Florida Gators to a 8-4 win over the No. 1 Alabama team that suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 22-1.

“Anytime you go into the sixth inning with a one-hitter, with a 4-2 lead, and you get the first out, it should be a win,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “And they end up with 10 hits. We have to do a better job.

“We had a few earlier mishaps. It probably should’ve been 4-1.”

Despite the disappointing performance that was ended two-thirds of an inning early, her first start that was not a complete game, Murphy was encouraged by certain things.

“She needed to get ahead, and she needed to finish them off,” Murphy said. “A couple of pitches she definitely left up, waist-high. Those were misses. That means they weren’t hitting her best pitches. When they hit her best pitch, that’s a different story.”

Murphy added the team as a whole would benefit from not the loss, but the experience as a whole.

“I’m glad we got to play them, I think it will help us down the road,” Murphy said. “We have a lot of young kids that felt that pressure for the first time. That’s what we needed, because they’re going to feel it three times this weekend, and three times next weekend. It’s good for us.”

Junior second baseman Kaila Hunt added, “We haven’t seen that good of pitching yet. For some of the younger kids just getting opportunities, that’s good for them. Especially right before SEC (play). I think it was great for us.”

Florida’s pitching was enhanced by a late pitching change, as starter Hannah Rogers had her outing ended in favor of Lauren Haeger, who pitched two hitless innings to end Alabama’s hope of a late comeback.

“They definitely complement each other because Hannah doesn’t throw quite as hard as Haegar,” Hunt said. “Only giving us two innings to adjust to the speed was a good move on their part, but we have to learn to make that adjustment as a team.”

Comments Off

Posted in Florida, softball

Tagged , , , , ,

Star Series: Pitchers show out

Posted on March 6, 2013 by | Comments Off

Each week for the duration of the Alabama baseball and softball seasons, Daily Bama Blog contributor Brett Hudson will track outstanding individual performances with the Star Series. Three players from each team will get 1-star, 2-stars and 3-stars with a running season tally.

Baseball

Click here to read more on Alabama’s series loss to Tulane, two games to one.

3-Star Player: First baseman Austen Smith. Smith played in all four of the Crimson Tide’s games this week, batting 7-for-14 while batting in five runs and scoring two of his own. Smith hit a two-RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning in Alabama’s win on Sunday that ended the outing for Tulane starting pitcher Kyle McKenzie.

2-Star Player: Right fielder Ben Moore. Moore’s weekend was highlighted by a 2-4 performance at the plate on Sunday with two RBI and two runs scored. Moore was also 2-4 on Friday.

1-Star Player: Relief pitcher Ray Castillo. In his one appearance, Castillo entered the game with one runner in scoring position and pitched 4.1 innings giving up only one hit, a solo home run. Castillo struck out six batters and solidified the Tide in its 12-6 Sunday win over Tulane.

Season Tally:

Georgie Salem: 3

Brett Booth: 3

Cary Baxter: 3

Austen Smith: 3

Mikey White: 2

Ben Moore: 2

Jake Hubbard: 1

Ray Castillo: 1

Softball

Click here to read more about Alabama’s clean sweep of the Easton Classic, beating Iowa State twice and St. John’s twice. Alabama also won two midweek games, which you can read about by clicking here.

3-Star Player: Third baseman Danielle Richard. Richard’s 8-for-10 from the plate performance in the four weekend games was good enough to name her the Easton Classic MVP. Richard had five RBI in six games and was a perfect 4-for-4 against St. John’s on Saturday.

2-Star Player: Pitcher Jackie Traina. Traina pitched twice last week, both times throwing seven innings and allowing just three hits. Traina struck out 18 batters. At the plate, Traina was 6-12 with three runs and 13 RBI.

1-Star Player: Second baseman Kaila Hunt. Hunt started the Easton Classic strong for the Tide, going 2-for-2 with three RBI and two runs scored. Hunt was named to the Easton Classic All-Tournament Team, as was Traina, in addition to hitting 3-4 in the two midweek games.

Season Tally:

Haylie McCleney: 8 stars

Jackie Traina: 6 stars

Kaila Hunt: 4 stars

Danielle Richard: 3 stars

Keima Davis: 1 star

Kayla Braud: 1 star

Danae Hays: 1 star

Comments Off

Posted in baseball

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Softball claims fourth tournament title of 2013, 22-0 start to season with weekend sweep

Posted on March 3, 2013 by | Comments Off
Alabama's Leslie Jury pitched once for the Crimson Tin its clean sweep of the Easton Classic. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

Alabama’s Leslie Jury pitched once for the Crimson Tide its clean sweep of the Easton Classic. (Photo courtesy of UA Athletics)

In its last regular season tournament of the year before taking on the conference schedule, the Crimson Tide defended its No. 1 ranking with a clean sweep of the Easton Classic, winning both games of a Friday doubleheader and a Saturday doubleheader. Alabama beat Iowa State 13-4 and St. John’s 9-1 on Friday, then won over and St. John’s 12-4 and Iowa State 6-0 on Saturday.

On Friday, the Tide had Lauren Sewell throw a six-inning one-hitter, allowing one run and striking out six batters against St. John’s. Sophomore third baseman Danielle Richard was 3-for-3 from the plate against the Red Storm on Friday with two runs scored and two RBI.

Saturday was highlighted by junior Jackie Traina, who was 2-4 from the plate with five RBI in the first game of the doubleheader against St. John’s before pitching a complete game shutout in the second, allowing just three hits and striking out nine batters.

Alabama’s Traina, junior second baseman Kaila Hunt, freshman outfielder Andrea Hawkins were named to the All-Tournament Team, as was Richard, who was named the tournament MVP.

Alabama has a rare Sunday off …..

….. before hosting Florida on Wednesday. The Tide will then go on the road for a three-game series against Tennessee in Knoxville.

Comments Off

Posted in softball

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Softball now 18-0 after two midweek home wins

Posted on March 1, 2013 by | Comments Off

The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide softball team continued to hold its homefield well in its current 12-game homestand, beating Samford 11-0 in five innings on Wednesday and South Alabama 4-0 on Thursday. Through the first seven of the 12-straight home games, Alabama has won all seven by a combined 57-2.

The Tide has won its last two games with power, getting a two-run home run from sophomore third baseman Danielle Richard on Wednesday and an RBI double from junior second baseman Kaila Hunt in the same game. On Thursday, it was catcher Molly Fichtner that hit a three-RBI double in the bottom of the third inning to give Alabama three of its four runs in the win over South Alabama.

Alabama pitcher Leslie Jury was just two outs short of pitching a no-hitter on Wednesday against the Bulldogs, allowing a hit with one out in the top of the fifth inning. It was the only hit Jury allowed, as she pitched the complete game with five innings and striking out two batters. Jackie Traina pitched for the Tide on Thursday, allowing three hits while walking six batters and striking out nine.

Alabama (18-0) is set to host the Easton Classic on Friday and Saturday. Click here to read more about the Easton Classic.

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Softball moves to 16-0 after Easton Bama Bash Sweep

Posted on February 25, 2013 by | Comments Off

Alabama started a 14-game homestand over 12 days with five wins in three days in a clean sweep of the Easton Bama Bash. Alabama beat Western Illinois twice, Iowa twice and Winthrop once to claim the championship in its first of two tournaments it will host in the regular season.

Alabama started the tournament on Friday by winning both games of a doubleheader by a combined 26-0, including a tournament-opening 21-0 win over Western Illinois in five innings. Junior Kaila Hunt ripped a three-run homerun in the top of the first inning, part of a nine-run outburst for the Tide in the opening frame. Freshman center fielder Haylie McCleney was 3-3 from the plate in the opening game, while scoring all four times she got on base and batting in six runs.

In the second game against Iowa, Alabama was led by a complete game shutout from pitcher Jackie Traina. Traina gave up five hits and struck out six batters in the outing. Senior right firlder Keima Davis led the Tide offensively, going 2-3 at the plate with two runs scored and one RBI. Senior left fielder Kayla Braud went 2-4 from the plate with an RBI.

On Saturday, Alabama beat Iowa 4-1 to start the action and won the second game of the doubleheader against Western Illinois 6-0. McCleney was 5-7 from the plate in the two games, knocking in four RBI and scoring two runs. Against Western Illinois, first baseman Jadyn Spencer was 2-3 with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

In the tournament finale, a 6-1 win over Winthrop, Alabama went into the bottom of the sixth inning tied at one before a five-run outburst secured the victory, including a three-run home run from sophomore Danielle Richard.

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Star Series: Baseball’s first series starred by first-timers

Posted on February 18, 2013 by | Comments Off

Each Monday for the duration of the Alabama baseball and softball seasons, DailyBamaBlog.com correspondent Brett Hudson will track outstanding individual performances with the Star Series. Three players from each team will get 1-star, 2-stars or 3-stars with a running season tally.

Baseball

Click here to read more on Alabama’s 3-game sweep of VMI in the opening weekend.

3-star Player: Sophomore first baseman Cary Baxter. Baxter now leads the team in the following categories after the first weekend: batting average with .625, slugging percentage with .875, total bases with seven and on-base percentage with .692. Baxter is also tied for the team lead in RBI with four and doubles with two.

2-star Player: Freshman shortstop Mikey White. White’s first three games as a collegiate baseball player saw him go 6-11 from the plate with three RBI, two runs scored and an on-base percentage of .643. White paired with second baseman Kyle Overstreet to turn two double plays on Opening Day and four throughout the weekend. White also stole three bases on three attempts.

1-star Player: Senior catcher Brett Booth. Booth was 4-8 and scored a team-high six runs in the three-game series in eight times on base. Booth led the team with four walks and also had four RBI.

Season Tally

Cary Baxter: 3

Mikey White: 2

Brett Booth: 1

Softball

Click here to read more on Alabama’s 5-0 weekend in Fort Myers, Fla.

3-star Player: Junior shortstop Kaila Hunt Hunt hit for power well over the weekend, getting six extra-base hits on a 7-13 hitting weekend, slugging for 1.308. Hunt hit two home runs, six RBI and scored six of Alabama’s 23 runs in the five wins.

2-star Player: Center fielder Haylie McCleney. McCleney continued her strong freshman campaign by batting 8-17, scoring six runs and stealing six bases for the Tide. McCleney leads the team in stolen bases this season with 11 and has yet to be caught stealing.

1-star Player: Second baseman Danae Hays. Hays hit a walk-off two-run double to push the Tide to a win over Georgia Southern on her way to batting 6-10 with one double, six RBI and a home run.

Season Tally

Haylie McCleney: 5 stars

Kaila Hunt: 3 stars

Jackie Traina: 2 stars

Keima Davis: 1 star

Danae Hays: 1 star

Comments Off

Posted in baseball, softball

Tagged , , , , ,