For the first hour of Alabama's season opener Friday, the atmosphere at Sewell-Thomas Stadium would have provided good material for a Smiths song. Dark clouds blanketed the sky. The temperature dropped while misting rain spit on the sparse crowd that remained silent as Valparaiso pushed ahead by one run. It was dreary and bleak, with no signs of life.
It essentially felt like a continuation of the Greg Goff Era that ended last May after the Crimson Tide won 19 games and finished dead last in the Southeastern Conference.
After that disastrous campaign that left the program scarred, Alabama was in need of a catharsis. The Crimson Tide took one step toward that end during the fourth inning Friday, when it scored eight runs, sowed the seeds for an 16-2 victory over the Crusaders and set the stage for Brad Bohannon's first win as a college head coach.
"I told the guys, "I don't think I could have scripted it out any better,'" Bohannon said.
Sam Praytor's two-run double into a gap between center and right field gave the Tide its first lead of the game, enlivening the 3,194 who showed up to see Bohannon's debut.
Praytor launched an assault on Valparaiso starter Jon Tieman, whose outing would come to an abrupt end after Gene Wood and Hunter Alexander ushered runners home with hits. Tieman was lifted with two outs remaining in the inning, leaving the bullpen to try to quash a rally that would eventually drop the Crusaders in a seven-run hole before it was finally extinguished.
Valparaiso, a Horizon League team that finished with a losing record in 2017, didn't have the firepower to conjure a response. The Crusaders' offense shriveled soon after Blake Bilinger -- the third batter of the game -- smashed Alabama starter Sam Finnerty's pitch over the right-field fence.
Finnerty remained unfazed by what initially seemed to be an ominous harbinger, regrouping quickly before gaining strength over the course of the six innings he pitched.
Following the setback against Bilinger, he didn't yield another run and surrendered only four more hits while inducing ten groundouts.
"I was just trying to pound the strike zone," Finnerty said. "Just trying to be me and not trying to do too much."
By the time he exited the game, Alabama led 14-1 and a win was in the process of being added to Finnerty's record.
More importantly, the Crimson Tide had assured Bohannon's tenure in Tuscaloosa would begin in the most positive way imaginable.
"I wasn't expecting it to go that way," said shortstop Jett Manning, who went 3-for-3 with three RBI. "I'll definitely remember it forever."
Bohannon will, too.
There was strong pitching, relentless hitting and the occasional defensive highlight. Joe Breaux snatched a line drive that seemed destined to result in an extra-base hit, as he crashed in the wall in left field. Cobie Vance made a diving stab at third base before delivering a strong throw to first for the out. And reserve infielder Connor Short leapt to make a catch that led to a double play.
"They were making plays left and right," Finnerty said.
It was a tour de force performance by a team eager to start anew. The 16 runs were the most Alabama scored in an opener since 1958.
"It was a fun day," Bohannon said. "A fun day."
It was also one that turned out a lot differently than it began.
Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin