TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For the third time in as many years, Alabama softball is headed to an NCAA super regional. The Crimson Tide swept its way through the Tuscaloosa Regional this weekend, beating Virginia Tech, 3-2 on Sunday.

Alabama, which was awarded the No. 15 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, will travel to No. 2 national seed Oklahoma in the Norman Super Regional next week. The Crimson Tide won two of three games against the Sooners in Tuscaloosa last month.

Rain delayed the start of Sunday’s game by three hours. A pitching duel between Alabama’s Catelyn Riley and Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley delayed the offense between both teams until the fifth inning, when the Tide capitalized on another two-out rally.

Salen Hawkins got things started for Alabama with a single through the left side before a perfectly executed bunt from Brooke Ellestad put runners on first and second with no outs. Two batters later, Abby Duchscherer walked to load the bases with one out.

Alabama looked as though it might come away with nothing after Larissa Preuitt popped out to left. However, a four-pitch walk by Audrey Vadagriff finally put the Tide on the board.

From there, Lauren Johnson provided the clutch hitting Alabama had been missing for most of the day, blooping a single to score two more and put the Tide up 3-0.

Riley handled the rest for Alabama. The Ole Miss transfer pitched 6⅓ innings, giving up two earned runs on eight hits while striking out three batters. Riley survived two-out rallies from Virginia Tech in the second, third and fourth innings, stranding six Hokies baserunners during that span.

Alabama also had Riley’s back in the field. With one out and a runner on first in the bottom of the sixth, Duchscherer snared a line drive at first base before diving back toward the bag to double off the runner to end the inning.

After getting a groundout to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, Riley was struck by a line-drive single up the middle from Virginia Tech pinch hitter Michelle Chatfield. From there, Rachel Castine belted a two-run home run to left to cut Alabama’s lead to 3-2.

Virginia Tech’s rally would end there, as Alabama brought in ace pitcher Jocelyn Briski to close out the game. The sophomore struck out NCAA home runs leader Cori McMillan before getting Jordan Lynch to pop out behind the plate to end the game.