Outfielder Faith Hensley Explains Why She Transferred to Alabama
Softball season is less than a month away, and that always creates a certain buzz around Tuscaloosa, especially at Rhoads Stadium.
While Alabama is bringing back some familiar stars like Montana Fouts, Ally Shipman, Ashley Prange and Bailey Dowling, due to multiple transfer portal departures, plus a few graduates, there are also a lot of new faces on this year's Crimson Tide team.
One of those new faces is the 2022 MAC Player of the Year, Faith Hensley. The outfielder spent the last four seasons at Ball State, starting 108 games. In her senior season, she hit .404 with 17 home runs, 40 RBIs and a .533 on-base percentage.
Since Hensley was a student athlete during the 2020 season, she still had one year of eligibility remaining after graduating from Ball State thanks to the COVID waiver. She revealed in Thursday's press conference why Alabama was the right place for her to utilize that fifth year of eligibility.
She took multiple visits and had no clear frontrunner in mind. But that all changed when she stepped foot on the University of Alabama campus and met with Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy.
"What really sold me over was the way Murphy talks about the team and all of us," Hensley said. "And it really wasn’t about game-winning plays, or even winning a national championship, or things like that that sold me over, but the culture itself— talking about Mudita, talking about situations where teammates stepped up for one another in a friendship way or bought in to each other in order to win a game. It moved me. He started tearing up, and I think in that moment I was ready to commit.”
Hensley joked that when she got back to the hotel after the first day of her visit, her dad said he was ready to commit to Alabama even if she wasn't.
The grad transfer brings a wealth of experience to an outfield that is down a starter from a season ago with centerfielder Dallis Goodnight transferring to Georgia. Last year's starting left fielder Jenna Johnson is back. Right field was a bit of a revolving door, but Kat Grill played in 42 games with 31 starts and is also back this season. Highly-rated freshman Larissa Preuitt is another outfielder on the roster who will compete for a starting spot.
Fans can also expect Hensley to bring the speed element to her game. Murphy said she is one of seven "green-light girls" on the team, meaning they have the "green light" to steal whenever they see fit.
Hensley is one of four grad students on the roster using the fifth year of eligibility, joining Fouts, Prange and Shipman. Murphy said this is the oldest roster he's had at Alabama, and that all four have been great leaders so far for Team 27 as it prepares for the season. Fouts and Hensley both spoke to the media alongside Murphy, and the leadership and character is part of why he goes and gets girls from the portal like Hensley.
"That’s what we want in our program— top-notch people, who also just so happen to be top-notch softball players, because you can do it all here," Murphy said. "We’re at a point in our program where we want the best of the best both academically and athletically, and right now, we’re getting those type of kids."
Alabama also brought in senior pitcher Lauren Esman from Michigan and junior utility player Emma Broadfoot from North Alabama along with five freshman.
Despite the mix of old and new, the team has really come together in the offseason according to Murphy and the players.
"It’s been really exciting to come in and be able to almost get to reinvent yourself when you come to a new place," Hensley said. "And I think the thing that has resonated with me the most this year is, we’ve really talked about connecting with our teammates and affirming one another in a way that also allows us to hold one another accountable— which both of those things are just going to drive us to our maximum potential. Because at the end of the day, I do think we have really strong older leadership, a lot of great returners, but what’s really gonna shock people is how incredible and the amount of depth we have in our younger athletes.”
Hensley, along with the other new faces, gets the unique opportunity to debut at home in front of the loyal Rhoads Stadium crowd, as Alabama is opening the season in Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2010. The Crimson Tide opens the season with a doubleheader against Leigh and Georgia Southern, Feb. 10 starting at 3:30 p.m.
See also:
Alabama Softball Adds Extra Member for 2023 Season
Alabama Soccer Makes History with Three Players Selected in NWSL Draft
