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Alabama's Patrick Murphy Agrees with Decision to Reschedule WCWS games

Instead of playing late into the night Sunday, Alabama and Florida State will face off on Monday with the winner moving on to the national championship series

OKLAHOMA CITY -- To play or not to play?

That was the question facing NCAA officials Sunday in the Women’s College World Series. A nearly three-hour weather delay at the start of the Alabama-Florida State semifinal, coupled with Oklahoma forcing an if-necessary game with James Madison, forced the issue.

Instead of playing two elimination semifinal games past 9 p.m., the decision was made to play both games Monday afternoon.

Alabama plays Florida State 30 minutes after the James Madison vs. Oklahoma game, which starts at 3 p.m. CT. Both games are on ESPN.

Florida State, which forced an if-necessary game after shutting out Alabama 2-0, has to be thrilled with the decision.

Alabama offense lifeless against FSU

FSU played two games Saturday and didn’t finish until after midnight. The Seminoles were looking at another late night at Hall of Fame Stadium if the schedule went unchanged.

“I 100 percent would say that (FSU coach) Lonni (Alameda) did not want to play tonight after another game. So, I think that's a smart decision on their part,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said.

“And in the future, I'm sure that everybody on the NCAA side would love to sit down and just talk about options for perhaps a better bracket, you know? And they've always said that to me. They say think outside the box and I'm sure that this committee would listen to some coaches and I think that's something that really needs to be looked at after the World Series. And I'm sure they're thinking about it, too, because nobody wants to be playing until 3 a.m. and no fan wants to be in the stands until 3 a.m.”

Seminole players can attest to that. The team was exhausted following its win against Oklahoma State, a game that didn’t end until nearly 2 a.m.

“I went upstairs, took my uniform off brought it down to be washed took a shower and then I went to sleep. And that was that,” said Seminole pitcher Caylan Arnold, who despite the short rest, held Alabama to just two hits to earn the win Sunday. “We were so tired. We were excited, though. We were still jamming on the bus on the way back. We were still excited and hyped up and ready to roll. And get the sleep we need to come out today and perform.”

Crimson Tide players were not so eager to hold off playing. The Crimson Tide, which had Saturday off, felt playing later Sunday night would have benefited them.

“Honestly, we could go right now,” said Alabama pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl, who took the loss against FSU. “And I think that we would have -- lit a spark, we'd have enough to fight back. But I guess tomorrow, it does help because we're getting a day of rest and we get to regroup and come out tomorrow fresh and come at them.”