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Alabama's Montana Fouts Strikes Out a Career-Best 16 in 4-0 Shutout Over Mississippi State

Thanks to a career night in the circle from Montana Fouts, the Crimson Tide shutout the Bulldogs 4-0 on Wednesday night

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 2 Alabama softball continued its shutout streak Wednesday night at Rhoads Stadium, as Montana Fouts struck out a career-best 16 batters in a 4-0 win over Mississippi State.

Alabama (15-0) has now thrown 28.0 consecutive shutout innings, not allowing a run since the seventh inning against Memphis on Feb. 26. Montana Fouts (7-0) made quick work of the potent Mississippi State (8-5) lineup, striking out 16 of the 25 batters she faced.

“It was a fun midweek game against a quality opponent," Crimson Tide coach Patrick Murphy said postgame. "Obviously, the star of the show was Montana Fouts. That was probably one of her best performances of her career. 

"Mississippi State is a real tough lineup. You have to make real good pitches against all of them. For Montana to do what she did with velocity, location and movement made for a real good outing.”

The 16 strikeouts are a new career high for the Grayson, Ky., native and are the most in a single game for the Crimson Tide since Alexis Osorio tied the NCAA record with 21 in a seven-inning game on March 10, 2018.

Alexis Mack drove in two of the team’s four runs, marking her fourth multi-RBI game of the season. Two fielding errors on the same play allowed the first two Tide runs to cross, with subsequent runs coming on a Bailey Dowling sacrifice fly and an RBI single from Mack.

Key stats from the 4-0 victory:

  • Montana Fouts threw a career-high 16 strikeouts, the most in a single game for Alabama since Alexis Osorio tied the NCAA record in a seven-inning game with 21 on March 10, 2018
  • Fouts has double-digit strikeouts in five of her seven starts this season
  • Crimson Tide pitching has thrown 28 straight scoreless innings since allowing a seventh-inning run against Memphis on Feb. 26
  • Wednesday’s game was Alexis Mack’s fourth multi-RBI game of the season

Scoring plays:

  • B3 | Two errors on the same play allowed a pair of runs to score for the Crimson Tide (2-0, 0 Out)
  • B3 | Bailey Dowling drove in Alexis Mack from third on a sacrifice fly (3-0, 1 Out)
  • B4 | An Alexis Mack single through the left side drove in Savannah Woodard (4-0, 2 Out)

Up next for Alabama:

  • Friday, March 5 vs. Kent State (DH) – 4 p.m. CT
  • Saturday, March 6 vs. UNI (DH) – 11 a.m. CT
  • Sunday, March 7 vs. South Alabama – 4 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
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