Alabama softball players celebrate with cigars after eliminating Tennessee from NCAA Tournament

It took a while – Mother Nature made sure of that – but Alabama is officially heading back to the Women’s College World Series. The Crimson Tide held on to defeat Tennessee in what turned out to be a nail-biter in the seventh inning to make it to Oklahoma City for the 15th time in program history.

Afterward, the team broke out a traditional celebration after knocking off the Lady Vols. The players handed out cigars.

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Alabama players are smoking cigars after beating Tennessee and advancing to the Women’s College World Series pic.twitter.com/Zw9jSoUodC

— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) May 27, 2024

Alabama got things going early with a grand slam from Riley Valentine in the first inning, but Mother Nature had other plans. The game entered a three-hour weather delay after lightning entered the Knoxville area, and play resumed at 7:15 p.m. ET.The 4-0 score held until the bottom of the seventh when the Tennessee offense started to wake up, and the Lady Vols loaded the bases with one out.

However, Alabama held on to come away with the 4-1 victory, punching a ticket to the Women’s College World Series.

In the circle, Jocelyn Briski dominated through six innings before Kayla Beaver came in to seal the deal and help Alabama return to the WCWS for the 15th time in program history.

Briski looked strong in her 6.1 innings of work, allowing just one run on four hits while totaling four strikeouts. In fact, two of those hits came in the seventh inning before Beaver took over in relief to get the save.

On the Tennessee side, Payton Gotshall had a strong showing outside of the grand slam to Valentine. She allowed four hits and a walk in three innings of work before handing it over to Karlyn Pickens, who held Alabama scoreless in her four innings of work and gave up just two hits.

It was quite a way to end a thrilling Super Regional – highlighted by an all-time classic in Game 2.

Tennessee – the No. 3 seed in the tournament – won the first game of the Knoxville Super Regional 3-2, putting the Lady Vols one victory away from a trip to Oklahoma City. But Alabama got the victory in Saturday’s game, which was one for the books. The Crimson Tide and Lady Vols went 14 innings, which set a Super Regional record for the longest game and became the longest NCAA Tournament game between two SEC opponents in history.

Alabama will now head to Oklahoma City to take on UCLA in the first game of the Women’s College World Series.