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Alabama's Alexis Osorio pitches in the first inning against Michigan in an NCAA Women's College World Series softball game in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May 28, 2015.
(Alonzo Adams/AP)
Surviving the losers' bracket of the Women's College World Series starts with pitching. Count that as a strength of Alabama's entering the 1:30 p.m. CT Saturday game with No. 2 Oregon (51-7).
But it'll take more than Alexis Osorio to win four games in two days. Coach Patrick Murphy said everyone will be needed for Alabama to advance.
Osorio pitched all six innings in the 5-0 loss to Michigan on Thursday and felt it Friday.
"She's a little tight in her forearm, but I think that's just soreness," Murphy said. "It's not injury. She's sore after every game, but everybody is going to be ready."
Osorio (21-9) threw 117 pitches Friday after tossing 365 last weekend in three starts against Oklahoma. The Wolverines got just four hits, but two were home runs including a grand slam.
Alabama (47-14) will also need Sydney Littlejohn and Leslie Jury this weekend. Jury hasn't pitched since starting the SEC tournament loss to Auburn on May 8.
"Leslie had been a little injured, sick during regions and the late-going of the season," Murphy said. "So that's why you didn't really see her yet in the postseason. She's OK. I talked to her (Thursday) and she thought was 100 percent."
Jury is 10-4 as a senior with a 2.47 ERA in 107.2 innings pitched. Littlejohn, a sophomore, is 16-1 with a 1.49 ERA in 103.1 innings. Osorio, however, has taken over the majority of important moments with 179.0 innings pitched.
But Murphy said they will use pitchers situationally, even if it's for just one batter.
"We're going to have to use everybody," Murphy said. "At the beginning of the postseason, when we started the SEC tournament, I told the pitchers -- all three -- to be ready at the beginning of every game. So if I go to you in the dugout and I say 'Are you ready?' they better give me the thumbs up because I don't want an emergency 9-1-1 warm-up, five pitches and you're in there. That's happened before and we're not going to do that."