Familiar Foe or Not, Kentucky is All That Stands Between Alabama and WCWS

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Fifth time's the charm.

At least that's what Alabama softball is hoping as it gears up for an NCAA super regional at Rhoads Stadium.

The No. 3-seeded Crimson Tide will match up with No. 14 Kentucky for the fifth time this season starting at noon on Friday, weather permitting.

"We basically know each other inside and out," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said.

Through the first four meetings the series is tied at 2-2. Whichever team gets to four wins overall will find itself traveling to Oklahoma City for a shot at the national championship.

The two teams first met back in late March in a regular season series in Lexington, where Kentucky took two of three games. Alabama avenged the series loss in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament at Rhoads Stadium.

Alabama won that game 5-1 behind two home runs from Bailey Hemphill and 15 strikeouts from Montana Fouts.

"We know Kentucky's good," Murphy said. "Obviously we went up there and they beat us, and we got them back here at the SEC tournament. So we're just looking forward to a great series with them.”

Murphy said facing another SEC school in super regionals is not his favorite thing, but he also knew it would be a high possibility with 12 conference teams in the NCAA tournament. One of the only positives from a league standpoint of two teams matching up at this point is it guarantees at least one team will make it to the WCWS. (Florida and Georgia are also matching up in a super regional.)

Led by catcher Kayla Kowalik, who is the conference leader in batting at .497, the Wildcats (43-14) are the best hitting team in the SEC. Kentucky freshman Erin Coffel leads the team and league with 56 RBIs.

"They continually challenged us," Murphy said. "They have really, really good hitters.”

Alabama (48-7) is no stranger to super regionals. It's the only program to reach this round in every year of its existence dating back to 2005.

Murphy knows there are a couple of keys to surviving and advancing.

First, a team must limit errors. At this point of the NCAA Tournament every team is talented, so Murphy said the Crimson Tide can'/t afford to give away extra outs to the opposition.

Second, Murphy wants his team to win the "freebie war" on offense whether that be walks, hit-by-pitches, forcing errors, or wild pitches.

And lastly, Murphy mentioned the impact of speed, which can only add to the pressure on the other team.

"We need to get our fast kids on base to create some havoc because it made a difference in the Clemson games," Murphy said.

Against the Tigers in regionals, Alabama speedsters Alexis Mack and Elissa Brown combined to go 7-for-13 at the plate with four runs scored. Aside from the value of the hits and runs, they put a lot stress on the pitchers and defenses.

"They can make people speed up," Murphy said. "And they can create pressure and put anxiety on the defenders, and you saw that if you watched the games this weekend."

In the circle, Alabama has been riding the arm of Montana Fouts, who has not allowed a run in her last three starts and has over 300 strikeouts on the season.

Lexi Kilfoyl made her first start since April 10 in game one of the regionals against Alabama State and threw 5.1 no-hit innings with 15 strikeouts. Murphy said the plan was to limit her to 75 pitches.

Based on the outings over the last few weeks, Fouts would be the probable starter for the opener against Kentucky, but Murphy said he has five pitchers on his staff ready to go whenever needed this weekend.

Pitching, defense and timely hits will all be factors in Alabama's ability to advance out of super regionals and to the WCWS for the 13th time.

While Alabama is the only team to play in all 16 Super Regionals since the current postseason format was adopted in 2005, of the 10 times it hosted at Rhoads Stadium it advanced in nine of them.

Friday: 12 p.m. CT, ESPN2
Saturday: 1 p.m., ESPN
Sunday: 2 p.m., ESPNU (if necessary)

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