KNOXVILLE, Tennessee -- Here is a look at Wednesday's opening-round action at the SEC Softball Tournament at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.

The Games

Score: Alabama 4, Arkansas 1
What happened: The Crimson Tide has struggled at the plate this season, but Alabama got three runs in the first inning and a strong pitching performance from starter Sydney Littlejohn and Alexis Osorio in relief to advance.

The star: Freshman first baseman Bailey Hemphill went 2-for-3 with a home run, driving in two runs for Alabama.

Records: Alabama improved to 41-15, Arkansas fell to 31-22.

Score: Ole Miss 2, Mississippi State 1
What happened: All the scoring occurred in the first two innings. Miranda Strother's RBI single in the bottom of the second proved to be the winning run.
The star: Pint-sized Rebels pitcher Kaitlin Lee scattered five hits over seven innings with four strikeouts and no walks to hold Mississippi State in check.

Records: Ole Miss improved to 37-18, Mississippi State fell to 36-20.

Score: Kentucky 7, South Carolina 3
What happened: The Wildcats powered to a 7-0 lead through five innings, paced by a pair of two-run homers from Abbey Cheeks. South Carolina made it interesting with a three-run rally over the last two innings, but never got close enough to threaten.

The star: The big bat of Cheeks was the difference in this one.



Records: Kentucky improved to 36-16, South Carolina fell to 32-22.

Score: LSU 6, Missouri 5
What happened: LSU went up 6-2 on a grand slam by Sahvanna Jaquish in the fourth inning, then held on as Missouri stormed back with three runs in the top of the seventh. The winning run came up to the plate with two outs and a runner on first, but Allie Walljasper -- who got knocked out of the game in the fourth -- returned to get a strikeout to end it.

The star: Jaquish only had one hit, but it came with the bases loaded and proved to be the difference.

Records: LSU improved to 39-17, Missouri fell to 29-26.

Game of the Day

LSU's victory over Mizzou had major shifts of fortune. LSU took the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run homer by Sydney Springfield. Missouri tied it in the top of the fourth when Natalie Fleming singled in two runs with the bases loaded, chasing LSU starter Allie Walljasper. Sahvanna Jaquish blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the same inning to give LSU a big cushion.



Reliever Sydney Smith until the seventh, when Missouri began to tag her, putting up three runs. Walljasper returned to get a game-ending strikeout in a 6-5 LSU victory.

Player of the Day

Kentucky third baseman Abbey Cheek went 3-for-4 against South Carolina with two home runs, driving in four runs and scoring twice. One of her shots looked like it was going to make it all the way to the railroad tracks beyond the outfield.

Play of the day

Alabama first baseman Bailey Hemphill's right-foot stomp at home plate after her sixth-inning home run was emphatic. That's because she had a home run taken off the board less than two weeks earlier at Ole Miss because she missed the plate in her excitement.

Alabama players gathered around the plate to greet her as she finished her trot home, all pointing at the plate and laughing and smiling as they exhorted her to make the final step.

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Biggest surprise

Alabama scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Going into the tournament, Alabama produced a three-run outburst in an inning against Auburn in the final game of the regular season -- the first time UA had scored that many runs in a single inning against an SEC team in a month, a span of 70 innings. Now it has done so in back-to-back games.

Alabama improved to 23-1 in games where it has scored in the first inning.

Quote of the day

"Should Vanderbilt field a softball team? I was thinking about that today, because we advertise Vanderbilt. I think if they don't have a softball team we shouldn't advertise them on the backstop for sure. ... We should knock them off the graphics if they're not going to be here."
-- South Carolina coach Beverly Smith on Vandy, the only school in the 14-team conference that does not field a softball team

Looking ahead:

Thursday's quarterfinal schedule
(All times Eastern)
(5) Alabama vs. (4) Texas A&M, noon
(8) Ole Miss vs. (1) Florida, 2:30 p.m.
(7) Kentucky vs. (2) Auburn, 5 p.m.
(6) LSU vs. (3) Tennessee, 7:30 p.m.

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