Alabama Softball Hits the Road for Women's College World Series

The Alabama softball team did something Tuesday it hadn’t done in almost a month – hit the road.

The Crimson Tide loaded up a bus and drove to Birmingham to catch a flight to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.

Alabama (50-7), the No. 3 overall seed, plays No. 11 seed Arizona (41-13) at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.

The trip to OKC is the first time the Crimson Tide has set foot outside Tuscaloosa since May 2. Alabama has played 11 straight games at home, including the SEC Tournament, regional and super regionals.

“I had to find my suitcase,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy joked before hitting the road. “We had a real good schedule at the end of the season.”

The end of April and all of May has been a terrific stretch for Alabama. The Crimson Tide lost to Florida on April 17, but has not lost since. Alabama rides that 18-game streak, which included wins over several ranked opponents, into Oklahoma City hunting for its second national title.

“We want to win it, Murphy said. “This group feels like they can. The day after the Florida series, I wrote on the practice plan, run the table. I never thought they would, because 16 of the 18 games were against ranked teams, but by God they did.”

Alabama pitchers Montana Fouts and Lexi Kilfoyl are peaking at the right time, too. In their last six games, the Crimson Tide duo has allowed just four runs, including four shutouts with 72 strikeouts.

“Kilfoyl pitched a great game on Saturday (against Kentucky) and gave Montana a rest,” Murphy said. “One of the best things that came out of the weekend was we had two pitchers throw complete games.

“The name of the game is fastpitch. You got to have a staff. If you have a staff that can get you through (the WCWS), you can do it. I think we do.”

There is something new in Oklahoma City since the Crimson Tide’s last visit in 2019, where it lost in the semifinals to Oklahoma. USA Stadium has been upgraded to include more seating. The stadium capacity is 13,000.

“This year is going to be cool because they added about 4,000 seats,” Murphy said. “There is an upper deck now. It’s going to feel like playing in Yankee Stadium.”