BAMA Baseball season comes to an end...

The 2009 Alabama Baseball campaign came to an abrupt end on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide was defeated by Tennessee Tech 6-2 in an elimination game at the NCAA Regionals in Clemson thus bringing the season to an end. Alabama finishes 2009 with a 37-21 record and dropped six of their last seven games. Just over two weeks ago the Tide found themselves 1/2 game behind LSU for first place in the SEC and was primed for a conference championship heading into their 3-game series against Auburn to close the regular season. Alabama needed some help from other teams that weekend and needed to take care of the Tigers who were one of the worst clubs in the SEC in 2009. Alabama dropped 2 of 3 to Auburn including a heartbreaking loss in 10 innings in the first game of the series and the Tide never really seemed to bounce back, despite their 13-3 win in game 3 of the series. With the SEC championship awarded to LSU and Ole Miss as co-champions, the Tide went into the SEC Tournament in Hoover as the 4-seed and what some considered a favorite to make a run deep into the tournament. After dropping into the loser's bracket with a 9-5 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in 11 innings and losing All-American third baseman Jake Smith to a season-ending injury on the last play of the game, the Tide had to make a less than 12 hour turnaround and face LSU in an elimination game and dropped that decision 9-6.

With hopes of hosting a NCAA Regional in Tuscaloosa depleted, Alabama was made a 2-seed at the Clemson regional. After dropping yesterday's game to Oklahoma State 10-6, the Crimson Tide was in a must-win situation today in their game vs. Tennessee Tech. Alabama's offensive woes continued on Saturday as they were only able to bring 2 runs across the plate in the 6-2 defeat to the Golden Eagles.

This season has been packed full of emotional highs and lows. Those of us who have spent time around the team have enjoyed the highs of this season but have also suffered the low points. Now the season is over, but the Crimson Tide did provide a lot of memories for me in 2009 that I'll never forget.
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The Alabama Softball team steamrolled over Arizona this afternoon 14-0, eliminating the Wildcats from the Women's College World Series. The Tide will square off against Arizona State tonight and if last night's lack of offense for the Sun Devils and this afternoon's domination at the plate for Alabama continue... the Crimson Tide should have no problem sending both teams from Arizona home early from Oklahoma City. It should be an exciting game to watch...
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Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tips-off at 7:30 tonight in Orlando. The Magic have a 3-2 lead in the series over LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers. If the Magic win tonight's game they meet the Los Angeles in the NBA Finals next week with Game 1 being played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. If Cleveland can pull off the win, they will force a Game 7 after being down 3-1 in the series.

While at this point the Magic are probably the favorite to win, if you are a sports fan and have caught even just a minute of NBA action, you have to respect LeBron James and his ability to take complete control of a game and guide his team to some wins where their backs were up against the wall. Right now, this is the biggest game of his career in my opinion, and if the Cavs secure the victory... I would have to bet on them to win Game 7 as well. The Magic can't afford to let Cleveland tie the series and erase their commanding lead.

I am looking forward to catching BAMA Softball and some intense NBA action tonight...