Despite Ongoing Calamity, there are some Silver Linings for Alabama from Shutdown
Alabama softball slugger Bailey Hemphill would like to set the record straight about one of her teammates, who just happens to be the ace of the Crimson Tide pitching staff.
“Montana Fouts is probably the biggest goofball I’ve ever met in my life,” Hemphill said. “Every time we’re together, we do not stop laughing. We bring out the weirdest sides of each other.
“It’s just so much fun to have a friend off the field who you can be your true self with and let all the weird parts out.”
It’s been nearly four full months since they, or anyone else from the University of Alabama, have been on a playing field together, at least in an official capacity.
Organized workouts have started for both football and basketball, and with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the sun belt states on a dramatic rise there’s more uncertainty than ever about when organized collegiate sports may return.
While there’s absolutely nothing to be celebrated about the horrible situation, with well over 10 million confirmed cases and 500,000-plus deaths worldwide, there are some silver linings that can be found regarding the shutdown and the Crimson Tide.
Five are listed below, but another is Fouts.
She was just beginning to hit her groove when the season was called in March, and even so the biggest concern with the ace was the risk of being overused.
Remember, during the 2019 Women's College World Series the coach didn’t start her when the season was on the line after Fouts threw back-to-back complete-game shutouts against Arizona (June 1) and Oklahoma (June 2), striking out a combined 14 with just seven hits allowed. It had to win a second game against the Sooners that day to reach the finals.
“She’s so amazing,” pitcher Sarah Cornell said. “She’s someone to look up to at any age.”
Alabama had hoped to rest Fouts last summer, but she made the under-19 U.S. National Team.
So the plan changed, to rest her after she got back. Only Fouts ended up being invited to the USA Olympic Selection Trials to determine the 2020 Olympic roster.
“She’s one of those kids, her work ethic is tremendous,” Murphy said. “When you’re like that, she probably feels she needs to get more work in. There wasn’t time.”
Fouts finally got in a couple months of down time, but it knocked her out of her usual rhythm and buildup to the regular season. She was 3-3 with a 2.04 ERA, 1.61 WHIP with 41 strikeouts and 22 walks when the season was called. The previous year she was 21-6 with a 1.39 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, with 193 strikeouts and 57 walks.
“We definitely all know that I wasn’t, this past season, at the top of my game, and I wasn’t really there all the way around,” Fouts said. “So I want to sharpen physically and mentally.”
After the shutdown, Fouts went home to Kentucky. She took a little time before starting to throwing with her dad, whom she credits for a lot of her success, and working on her mechanics.
“Pitcher’s dad,” she said. “He’s crazy, but in a good way.”
While the time off in the fall may have been the biggest break she’s ever had physically, mentally this is the longest Fouts has had since she started playing the game.
That may be true of not only everyone on the softball team, but all of the Crimson Tide athletes.
“I think it’s going to be good for everybody,” Murphy said.
Alabama Athletics
1] Linebackers Dylan Moses/Joshua McMillon
Neither of the starting interior linebackers made it to the 2019 season opener, both suffering ACL injuries during fall camp. They and running back Trey Sanders were just beginning go through individual drills during practices at the end of the season, and didn’t have to feel compelled to rush back for spring (Alabama would have likely been cautious with them anyway).
Knee injuries are always tricky, and having a little extra time can only aid their recoveries.
2] Strength and conditioning
Scott Cochran making the rare move from strength coach to on-field assistant coach turned heads throughout college football, but the most important part of it might end up being the timing.
Cochran was hired in February, which initially looked disastrous as the Fourth Quarter conditioning program was already under away and Alabama just a couple of weeks from the start of spring football.
It turned out to work in Alabama’s favor when David Ballou and Dr. Matt Rhea were hired as the new sports performance directors and started just before the shutdown. Not only were they were able to immediately start implementing their system and work with athletes, but add their input regarding the new science center being built.
Had Cochran left a couple of weeks later, or after A-Day, things might have been very different.
3] Kicker Will Reichard
He came in and won the starting kicker job as a freshman, only to suffer a problematic hip-flexor injury. It’s the kind of thing that can really only get better with rest and time.
So how’s he looking now?
While fans were quick to notice the distance of his kick in a social media post, many overlooked that Reichard has clearly been in the Alabama weight room and looks significantly thicker from a year ago.
4] Men’s basketball
When the SEC Tournament was canceled, Alabama was 16-15 and down to needing to win the championship and secure the automatic bid to make the NCAA field.
The roster was a bit of a mess as James Rojas and Juwan Gary suffered season-ending knee injuries, Jahvon Quinerly’s transfer waiver was denied by the NCAA, and then Herbert Jones suffered a fractured wrist.
The wing played through it as best he could, even going so far as to shoot one-handed free throws.
Jones tested the NBA draft waters, as there was no reason not to, but the Crimson Tide will have its hardhat leader back next season.
Regardless of whether John Petty Jr. returns (the guess here is that he’s going to wait until the last moment before making a final decision, Aug. 3), the best way for either of them to make it to the next level is to come back and finish strong while being surrounded by a deeper roster.
5] Softball
With the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility to all spring-sport athletes, the entire team will be back minus two players. Freshman catcher Karla Hice retired due to a should injury (she played in four games last season), and walk-on freshman outfielder Mary Greg Anderson opted not to return (15 games experience as a pinch-runner).
Including the incoming class of prospects, the Crimson Tide will have nine freshmen on the roster for 2012 – the biggest group in program history.
The competition for spots figures to be intense, but that’s exactly what a coach who believes all the pieces are in place to make a title run, wants. There’s talent, depth and the kind of chemistry that the star player can comfortably be called a “goofball.”
“She thinks she’s the best dancer on the team, but she’s not,” Hemphill added. “But she will do the weirdest moves and have no regard for what everyone else thinks.”
It could turn into a golden opportunity.
“Murph called it a mulligan,” Fouts said.
