The Week That Was In Alabama Softball, Feb. 3-9

Things didn’t exactly go as planned for Patrick Murphy’s Team 24 in Tallahassee over the weekend. Many predicted the No. 1 / 2 ranked Crimson Tide softball team to come away from the JoAnn Graf Classic with three and maybe four wins against a combination of North Carolina and host Florida State.

Instead, Alabama won one, got crushed once and lost seventh inning leads twice.

A 1-3 start was completely unexpected. Does that mean it’s time to panic for Tide Softball Nation?

Not exactly. Listen to the words via Twitter of former Alabama pitcher Sidney Littlejohn Watkins:

“Apparently no one remembers 2014 when we got TORE UP [emphasis by Watkins] by Arizona [run-ruled twice… a lot worse than 8-0] and then months later we were playing in the National Championship.

“We are FINE people. It’s a marathon not a sprint.”

Apparently no one remembers 2014 when we got TORE UP by Arizona (run ruled twice... a lot worse than 8-0) and then months later we were playing in the National Championship. We are FINE people. It’s a marathon not a sprint!
— Sydney Littlejohn Watkins (@Slittlejohn28) February 8, 2020

And Watkins is right. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the vaunted Crimson Tide pitching staff, said to be the school’s deepest ever, failed not once but twice to finish very winnable games.

After beating North Carolina 5-2 Friday in its season opener, Alabama went on to take a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh against host FSU. With Montana Fouts in the 100-pitch range in her first start, Murphy pulled her and put in senior Krystal Goodman. The move backfired.

Goodman surrendered four runs [three earned] including the tying grand slam and did not register an out. Murphy was likely trying to see if she could hold the generous lead she was handed. In this instance, Goodman could not. Fouts re-entered and eventually gave up the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Saturday saw Alabama get run-ruled 8-0 in the game Watkins mentioned in her tweet. Then, in the nightcap, another big lead was blown as Alabama took an 8-4 lead to the bottom of the seventh before disaster struck again.

This time, the culprit in the circle was freshman Lexi Kilfoyl, who had beaten Carolina a day earlier in her collegiate debut.

The Tar Heels scored five runs in the final frame to walk the Crimson Tide off in an early, but disturbing trend.

In three of the four games, the Tide offense played well enough to win but that only happened once.

One thing that became apparent was the defensive alignment Murphy wants to use, at least until junior third baseman Maddie Morgan returns from a suspension.

• Bailey Hemphill acquitted herself well behind the plate and threw out three runners in the four games.

• Senior Taylor Clark manned first base and hit her first Alabama home run in the lone win.

• Many thought Oregon transfer Alexis Mack would play left field, but she’s at second base, at least for now. Last year’s second baseman is now at shortstop, that being sophomore Skylar Wallace.

• Third base is being played by who many thought would be at second: freshman Savannah Woodard.

Abbott & Costello infield analogies aside, the left fielder is freshman Jenna Johnson.

• In center, and batting ninth instead of leadoff, was senior Elissa Brown. Murphy used Wallace at leadoff three times and Mack once.

• The right fielder, KB Sides, played there last year and Kaylee Tow seems to be the DP. In game one she batted for Johnson as Kilfoyl is being allowed to hit for herself the days she’s in the circle.

All the above could change as the season continues, especially when Morgan returns, or if sometime down the road early enrollee freshman catcher Abby Doerr is cleared to play. She is awaiting word from the NCAA Clearinghouse after graduating high school a semester early.

The Crimson Tide will try to improve on that 1-3 mark when it returns to the state of Florida this week. On Thursday Alabama opens play in the St. Pete/Clearwater Invitational where it will play Liberty, Washington, USF, UCLA and Oklahoma State over a three-day span.

To say the least, things don’t get much easier.