Kayla Beaver Shines in SEC Series Debut for Alabama Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — One of the biggest questions coming into the season for Alabama softball was focused around how the Crimson Tide would replace Montana Fouts in the circle.
After the team's first SEC series, it is even clearer that the answer is Kayla Beaver. The Central Arkansas transfer faced (and beat) SEC opponents a few times while at her former school, but in her first weekend as the Alabama starter for an SEC series, Beaver did not allow an earned run over 14 innings.
She faced off against Florida' freshman phenom pitcher Keagan Rothrock in games one and three of the series. Beaver and Alabama lost the first game 2-0, but the two runs she gave up were unearned.
After the Crimson Tide had dropped the first two games of the series and desperately needed a win in the series finale, Beaver delivered her best performance with seven shutout innings allowing just five hits and striking out five, including a looking K for the final out of the game to strand the bases loaded in Alabama's 3-0 win.
"She is an absolute beast on the mound, and it’s so fun playing behind her," Alabama third baseman Bailey Dowling said. "She just has this presence out there that nothing’s going to stop her, and you can see that whenever she steps out on the field."
Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said Beaver did a good job hitting her spots this weekend, but her velocity was key. Beaver was consistently hitting 70 mph on the radar gun.
However, it wasn't just her pitching itself that was impressive. Beaver also showed off her defensive prowess, starting two double plays, including one in the seventh inning.
"I think one of the things that people overlook with Beaver is her defense on the mound is incredible," Murphy said. "She has just been terrific. I was looking at film from previous games, and she has taken away two or three hits right up the middle that she has reached over her heard, and no one else would’ve gotten to them."
Beaver said her defensive hasn't always been this great, but she's put in a lot of work to get to this level.
Florida has two of the best players in the country at getting on base at the top of their lineup in Kendra Falby and reigning SEC Player of the Year Skylar Wallace. Falby was 1-7 against Beaver over two games. Wallace was held hitless and only reached base one time in Beaver's two starts. She had an on-base percentage above .600 coming into the series.
Limiting Falby and Wallace started with the trust developed between Beaver, pitching coach Lance McMahon and catcher Marlie Giles.
"We talked about the stuff we were going to throw to each person, and it worked out great," Beaver said. "Lance trusted me. We had a lot of conversations between innings and went with our gut, and it worked out well for us.”
She improved her record to 8-1 and lowered her ERA to 0.41, which is good for second best in the SEC. Alabama's top three pitchers in innings pitched (Beaver, Alea Johnson and Jaala Torrence) all have ERAs below one. The pitching has been strong, but it will continue to need support from the offense as the Crimson Tide enters a stretch of six games against top-25 teams over the next 10 days.
Beaver all but solidified herself as Alabama's ace and two-game-a-weekend starter as the team continues into the grind of a tough SEC schedule.
"I’m really excited to see what she has for the rest of the year," Dowling said.
