Softball World Series 2012: Alabama's Road Is Fated to End with a Title

For a moment, their road to victory seemed to be in question, but Alabama righted the ship with a win over Oklahoma on Tuesday to force a decisive Game 3 in the softball College World Series. 

Now, four years come down to Wednesday night, and as far as the Alabama seniors are concerned, it can only end one way.

The Crimson Tide have been so close so many times before and yet they've been unable to close out the deal. When they were freshmen, they were one out away from making it to the College World Series when they surrendered a game-winning, walk-off grand slam.

When they were sophomores, they earned a No. 1 seed but were bounced in the semifinals by a walk-off homer.

When they were juniors, only the Florida Gators stood between them and a trip to the finals, and they lost two games by a combined 21 runs to head home empty-handed yet again.

On Wednesday, the story of this senior class could end one of two ways: with yet another devastating footnote in a monotonous history or with redemption. And after enduring too much heartbreak over the last three years, there's no way the Crimson Tide are going to let it end with anything other than a trophy.

After the Crimson Tide lost Game 1 4-1 on Monday, the tides seemed to turn for them because after that the Sooners became the unlucky ones. In Game 2, six Alabama players were hit by pitches, the Sooners had two passed balls and they gave up four unearned runs in the second inning.

Though they rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh, it was too little, too late for the Sooners, who couldn't manage to close an 8-6 gap. It was so close to becoming another heartbreaking moment for the Crimson Tide—holding on through six full innings only to blow it at the last second yet again—but this time, they didn't let history repeat itself.

At that point, they could only focus on their mantra, a simple phrase that has been all the difference between this year and the last three, according to the Associated Press. The Crimson Tide have a sign reading "FINISH IT" tacked to the wall of their dugout, and it's never been more important to heed that mantra than it will be on Wednesday night.

"It's the perfect time to finish it right now. [Wednesday's] going to be the day," sophomore Jackie Traina told the AP after Tuesday's win.

When Alabama takes the field for the nationally-televised CWS finale on Wednesday at 7 p.m., it will be to make history, to become the first-ever national champion softball team in Alabama history. When they close out Wednesday's game, three years of turmoil will have been worth it because there's no possible way this team could endure yet another failure.

Now, the Crimson Tide have the momentum and they're not giving it up. It's their last chance, and they refuse to leave Alabama as four-time almost-champions.