ATLANTA, Ga. – Alabama softball capped an undefeated opening weekend at the Buzz Classic with two more wins Saturday, defeating Villanova, 9-3, before downing Georgia Tech, 7-2.

The Alabama (5-0) bats stayed hot against Villanova (0-6) and Georgia Tech (2-2) with six different Crimson Tide batters hitting a home run across both games Saturday. That improves Alabama’s weekend home run total to 18, led by Salen Hawkins and Ana Roman with three dingers each. The 18 home runs are nearly double the previous Crimson Tide opening weekend record, hitting a then-record 10 in 2022 and 2011.

Hawkins led the team with four hits between Saturday’s two games while Brooke Wells and Marlie Giles had three. In the circle, Jocelyn Briski (1-0) earned the win in relief in her season debut against Villanova and freshman Vic Moten (3-0) took home her second win against Georgia Tech in as many days.

“That was a good response from Vic today after giving up the home runs in the first inning, coming back to throw shutout innings the rest of the way and Alea [Johnson] finished it with a shutout seventh. Offensively all around it was another great day. Salen was terrific, she hit the ball really hard all weekend. Jena Young got her first home run today so that was fun to see and the defense was great today and all weekend. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Highlights

• Alabama’s 18 home runs are nearly double the previous Crimson Tide record of 10 home runs on opening weekend, doing so in 2022 and 2011
• Salen Hawkins and Ana Roman led the team with three home runs each, making them the eighth and ninth players, respectively, in program history to hit three homers on opening weekend
• Alexis Pupillo drove in a team-leading 11 RBIs over five games, a mark she didn’t reach until her 11th game last year with the Crimson Tide
• Alabama is now 114-24 all-time on opening weekend with just five losses since 2011

Scoring Summary vs. Villanova

• T1 | A wild pitch with the bases loaded brought in a run for Villanova (0-1, 1 Out)
• T1 | The Wildcats added another with an RBI groundout (0-2, 1 Out)
• B2 | Abby Duchscherer lifted a high fly ball out of the park for a two-run home run (2-2, 1 Out)
• T3 | Villanova retook the lead with an RBI double (2-3, 2 Out)
• B3 | Audrey Vandagriff scored on a sac fly RBI to tie the game (3-3, 1 Out)
• B3 | Marlie Giles blasted a two-run home run over the scoreboard (5-3, 2 Out)
• B3 | Ana Roman followed Giles with an opposite-field solo shot (6-3, 2 Out)
• B4 | Kristen White scored on a sac fly (7-3, 0 Out)
• B6 | Vandagriff went opposite field with a two-run home run (9-3, 0 Out)

Scoring Summary vs. Georgia Tech

• T1 | Alexis Pupillo lined an RBI double to the wall in center (1-0, 2 Out)
• B1 | Jayden Gailey tied the game with a solo home run (1-1, 2 Out)
• B1 | Gracyn Tucker followed with another solo shot to take the lead (1-2, 2 Out)
• T3 | Salen Hawkins blasted a two-run homer to give Alabama the lead back (3-2, 2 Out)
• T4 | Jena Young hit a two-run home run to the parking lot past right field (5-2, 2 Out)
• T6 | Young drove in Larissa Preuitt with a double to the left field gap (6-2, 1 Out)
• T6 | Lauren Johnson legged out an RBI triple to deep center (7-2, 2 Out)

Up Next: Easton Bama Bash (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

• Friday, Feb. 13 vs. Purdue – 4 p.m. CT
• Friday, Feb. 13 vs. No. 21/23 Liberty – 6 p.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb. 14 vs. No. 21/23 Liberty – 11 a.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb. 14 vs. Purdue – 1 p.m. CT
• Sunday, Feb. 15 vs. Georgia Southern – 12:30 p.m. CT