LEXINGTON, Ky. – With a full count and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning Alabama sophomore Danielle Richard smoked a walk-off triple down the line in left to hand the Crimson Tide a thrilling, 10-9 victory over Texas A&M Wednesday night at John Cropp Stadium. The victory sends Alabama to the quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament and moves its record to 42-12 on the season.

Trailing, 9-8, entering the seventh inning the Tide got its first two runners on base. After two quick outs, Richard supplied the heroics, driving in freshman Haylie McCleney from second and junior Molly Fichtner all the way from first for the win.

McCleney led the Tide at the plate with a 4-for-4 effort. Senior Kayla Braud batted 2-for-3 while junior Kaila Hunt and freshman Leona Lafaele combined to drive in seven.

Alabama carried an 8-3 lead into the sixth inning but Texas A&M started its charge, down to its final six outs of the contest.
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After yet another Alabama national championship, how much longer can this go on?

His given name, if you must know, is Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix, but his grandmother referred to him as "HaHa" when he was a child, and so the rest of us will forever do the same. There came a moment in the first half of last night's BCS title game when HaHa began making tackles for the Alabama defense, and the public-address announcer in Miami intoned that name twice in a row — "HaHa Clinton-Dix" — and the fans on the Notre Dame side of Sun Life Stadium sank deeper into their $2,000 seats and suppressed a series of paroxysmal titters, as if this, too, might be some twisted element of the elaborate joke being perpetrated upon them.


By the time HaHa made a sprawling sideline interception in the third quarter, this contest was more of a Muntzian source of mockery on social media than an actual football game; it turned out that we were not in for a defensive struggle or a cautious back-and-forth between two programs with elite defenses or any of those hyper-optimistic prognoses forecasted by those of us who were really just hoping to shake up the status quo. It turned out that the status quo is the status quo for a reason. It turned out that this 42-14 Alabama win was straight-up over 177 seconds after it started, when Alabama scored its first touchdown on the first of several furious topspin corner-pocket bursts by tailback Eddie Lacy.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference has altered the format and expanded the field for its annual baseball tournament, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive announced today.

The 2013 SEC Baseball Tournament, which will be held in Hoover, Ala., at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for the 16th consecutive year, will increase from 10 to 12 teams and will begin on Tuesday, May 21. Seeds 5-12 will meet in a single elimination format on the opening day of the tournament, followed by traditional double-elimination play Wednesday-Friday. The tournament will return to single elimination play on Saturday. The total number of games played will not change, remaining at 17.

The 12 teams are seeded 1-12 with the two divisional champions and top four seeds guaranteed opening-round byes, with the possibility of earning another bye later in the bracket. The tournament field will include the top teams from the SEC’s Eastern and Western Divisions plus 10 at-large bids seeded 3-12 based on conference winning percentage.
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