Patrick Murphy Provides Injury Update on Star Freshman Bailey Dowling
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama softball will be missing a key piece of the lineup moving forward.
Head coach Patrick Murphy announced on Tuesday that freshman Bailey Dowling will be out for the rest of the season following an injury she sustained during a collision in game two against Tennessee.
"Unfortunately, her MRI was torn ACL, MCL, and she'll be out for the rest of the year," Murphy said.
Dowling is the team leader in RBIs and home runs with 25 and six, respectively. She also had started all 25 games before the injury on Saturday.
While this is not the news she or the team wanted, Murphy said she's doing well and that many people have been reaching out to Dowling and her family with support including her current teammate Claire Jenkins.
Jenkins herself is a year removed from an ACL injury she sustained in the offseason prior to the shortened 2020 season.
Murphy said this injury gives Dowling a new role on the team and allows her to see the game from a different perspective.
"She'll play a different role now, and she'll be great at that role, and she'll see it from a different side," Murphy said. "She'll learn a lot about herself and her teammates, and you know she'll see things that she's never seen before in a game."
Because this creates a big hole in the Alabama lineup, it will require her teammates to step up. One of those teammates, Savannah Woodard, came in to replace Dowling on Saturday after she went down with the injury. Woodard had two hits and an RBI in game two, and broke up the no-hitter from Lady Vols' pitcher Ashley Rogers on Sunday.
"Savannah came in and just did a great job," Murphy said. "And you always say to the next person up, 'You don't have to do anything more. You don't have to do special things. Just be yourself. You know you're here for a reason. You're good,' and she did exactly that."
