It’s been a slow offensive start for Alabama in Game 2 of a weekend series at Arkansas, but head coach Patrick Murphy wants his squad to keep at it. And he delivered a quick message to one of his batters as the Crimson Tide were slumping.
With Lauren Johnson stepping up to bat, Razorbacks pitcher Robyn Herron was in a grove, having surrendered five batters in a row. Murphy shared on the ESPN broadcast that he told Johnson she was going to get a hit, and that was that.
“She’s doing a great job, No. 1. But we need to put the ball in play a lot more,” Murphy said. “I grabbed Lauren Johnson there for a little bit and I said, ‘Lauren no way in heck are we are going to go down six-straight times. You’re gonna put the ball in play. I don’t care how it’s done, Put it in play.’ And she had a good shot to left field.”
Johnson did come through with a hit in the top of the fourth inning, but the Crimson Tide didn’t break through until an inning later. Kendal Clark hit a leadoff double to start the inning, scoring when Kali Heivilin dropped in a single a few batters later. Then Kinley Pate scored when Johnson came back up and drilled a single, herself.
That ended up ultimately chasing Herron from the game.
And as the Alabama offense got rolling, Murphy has a recipe for keeping things going behind Jocelyn Briski, who found a groove in the circle after giving up an early run.
“Basically they’re hitting ground balls, we just need to play really good defense behind her and score a couple runs,” Murphy said prior to the offense getting rolling.
And the head coach had one final message before he passed off the broadcast headset: He’s ready for the wedding of former player Ally Shipman.
“Can’t wait for that Shipman wedding, this summer. I’m ready,” Murphy said.
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