No. 5 Alabama Softball Jumps out Early on No. 13 Louisiana in 5-3 Win
In its bye weekend from SEC play, the competition level did not lighten up for Alabama softball.
Behind a strong start in the circle from Montana Fouts and a three-run home run from Lexi Kilfoyl, No. 5 Alabama beat No. 13 Louisiana 5-3 at Rhoads Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide opened the scoring in a big way in the first inning, putting four runs up on the board with the help of the three-run blast from Kilfoyl. It was the first home run of her career.
"It was just a great first inning," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. "I absolutely loved everything about that offensively, and they did some things we talked about before the game, so I'm pleased as could be with that win."
Along with the Kilfoyl home run, KB Sides and Kaylee Tow both had doubles sandwiched around another Bailey Hemphill walk, her 32nd of the season.
Murphy said he sees the power from Kilfoyl constantly in practice, so it was good to see it payoff in a big game.
"It is awesome to see when you take what you're doing in practice to a game," Murphy said. "And she needed that, that was the first career home run at Alabama, so couldn't have come at a better time."
The sophomore pitcher did not play at all in last weekend's series against Florida due to a nagging injury and said she took about two weeks off from hitting prior to this week. Kilfoyl said this has allowed her to trust her fundamentals and keep things as simple as possible at the plate.
Kilfoyl, who was the designated player on Saturday, knew from studying the film that Louisiana was likely to throw her outside and was looking for an outside pitch she could drive.
"She just so happened to make a mistake and leave one a little bit too far up, and I went right after it," Kilfoyl said.
Alabama added its fifth run in the bottom of the fifth on a Tow RBI fielder's choice. She finished with two RBIs and is now second on the team behind Hemphill with 36.
In the circle, Fouts looked like she was on the way to a shutout before some defensive miscues and a two-RBI single from Kaitlyn Alderink allowed the Ragin' Cajuns to score three runs. Of the six Louisiana base runners that inning, only one ball left the infield and that was the hit from Alderink.
"They really didn't hit her hard I didn't think," Murphy said about Fouts. "She did a good job other than that weird inning when they scored."
It was Fouts' sixth straight start with double-digit strikeouts as she finished with 11.
The Crimson Tide will rematch against the Ragin' Cajuns to close out the weekend on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
