ATHENS, Ga. – Alabama softball defeated in-state rival Auburn, 3-2, in Tuesday’s opening round of the SEC Softball Tournament at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens, Ga.

With the win, Alabama (37-20) advances to play No. 7 seed South Carolina on Wednesday, May 7. The game will be 35 minutes after the Florida vs. Ole Miss game, which is set for a 4 p.m. CT start.

Alabama trailed Auburn (32-22) after a first inning solo home run before Salen Hawkins tied the game with an RBI double in the bottom of the second and the Crimson Tide took the lead the following inning on an RBI triple from Kali Heivilin and a sac fly RBI from Hawkins. With two in scoring position and one out in the top of the sixth, a sac fly RBI drew the Tigers within one, but the safe call at third on the trailing runner advancing on the play was challenged and overturned to an out, ending the half-inning with Alabama leading 3-2. The Tide couldn’t add to its lead in the bottom of the sixth and the Tigers brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh with two outs, but Jocelyn Briski (16-11) shut the door with her eighth strikeout of the game to end it.

“You can see why [Auburn pitcher SJ Geurin] won 20 games in the regular season. She’s like the prototypical ‘crafty lefty’ type of pitcher. We hit the backside of the ball a few times and had some really good at-bats. I was worried we’d start rolling over it and pulling the ball because that’s exactly what she wanted us to do, but we stayed behind the ball, found some gaps and [Jocelyn] Briski and the defense did the rest.”

Highlights

• The win was Alabama’s 47th all-time in SEC Tournament play, tying LSU for the most SEC Tournament wins
• The Tide is now 7-3 all-time vs. Auburn at the SEC Tournament
• The win was Jocelyn Briski’s fifth complete-game victory of the season, three of which have come vs. SEC opponents
• Briski’s eight strikeouts tie her previous career best, set on opening day vs. Washington (Feb. 7)
• Audrey Vandagriff and Abby Duchscherer each had two hits, their 20th and 11th multi-hit games of the season, respectively
• Salen Hawkins drove in two of the team’s three runs, her third multi-RBI game of the year
• Kali Heivilin extended her reached-base streak to 16 games, two shy from her personal best she set earlier this season

Scoring Summary

• T1 | Nelia Peralta hit a solo home run to right (0-1, 1 Out)
• B2 | Salen Hawkins one-hopped the wall for an RBI double (1-1, 0 Out)
• B3 | Kali Heivilin legged out an RBI triple (2-1, 0 Out)
• B3 | Heivilin tagged up and scored on a Hawkins sac fly (3-1, 1 Out)
• T6 | Peralta scored on a sac fly RBI (3-2, 1 Out)

Up Next: 2025 SEC Tournament (Athens, GA.)

• Tuesday, May 6 vs. South Carolina – Time TBD – SEC Network