What Alabama Softball Proved in Clearwater
After Alabama dropped the season opener, there may have been some concerns heading into the Clearwater Invitational. The team felt confident heading into the event, and it showed.
In a field amongst some of the best teams in college softball, No. 12 Alabama went 4-1 with wins over No. 19 Duke, No. 20 UCF, Indiana and No. 7 Florida State with the lone loss coming in a close game against No. 2 UCLA.
On offense, Alabama had home runs from four different players (Ashley Prange, Kali Heivilin, Kenleigh Cahalan and Bailey Dowling), and 12 different players drove in at least one run over the weekend. In the field, Alabama only committed three errors all weekend. The Crimson Tide's pitching improved as the weekend went on, culminating with the one-run, complete game performance from Montana Fouts against Florida State.
Here are some things we learned from Alabama's weekend in Clearwater:
Alabama can win in multiple ways
In each of the Crimson Tide's four victories over the weekend, it took a different way to win.
In the opener against Duke, Alabama had to learn to close out a game, holding off a comeback from the Blue Devils. The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and had to maintain it until the final out on the way to the 5-4 win.
In the win over UCF, Team 27 proved it has what it takes to make a comeback. After getting down 4-0, the Crimson Tide rallied back to take the 5-4 lead. When the game once again got tied, Alabama made the ultimate comeback in extra innings with the walk-off single to beat the Knights 6-5.
Against the one unranked opponent, Alabama handled the business the way it should— winning in dominant run-rule fashion, 10-0. The team was efficient in the field, and productive at the plate to take care of the game in five innings.
And the finale against Florida State was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel between Fouts and Kathryn Sandercock for the Seminoles. But like Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy always believes his team will, the Crimson Tide got the key hits. Cahalan and Dowling stepped up with the home runs that provided enough cushion for Fouts in the circle on the way to the 2-1 win.
Montana Fouts is still Montana Fouts
Over her four plus years at Alabama, Fouts has made it clear that she is always willing to take the ball. She's not just willing, but always wants to pitch. Four appearances in four days is nothing new for Fouts, but as the weekend went on in Clearwater, Fouts grew stronger.
The fifth-year pitcher made three starts and one relief appearance in Clearwater. She pitched 22.1 innings, allowing 10 earned runs on 18 hits with 31 strikeouts. However, Fouts only allowed one run over her final 12.1 innings pitched, and it was on the solo home run in the Florida State game.
In the win over the Seminoles, her first in three tries dating back to 2020, Fouts only allowed four hits and the one run. After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, the pitcher really locked in and didn't give Florida State much more to work with. Whether it was the emotion of finally beating Florida State, ending the tournament with a victory or pitching her best game of the year, Fouts seemed extra fired up after the win.
The tournament also gave the pitchers behind Fouts the opportunity to throw some innings against good competition. Outside of her performance against Florida State, the highlight of the weekend in the circle was transfer Lauren Esman's start against Indiana.
Alabama run-ruled the Hoosiers in five innings, and Esman threw a 60-pitch complete game, allowing no runs on just three hits. Esman also did not allow any hits or runs in her relief appearance against UCLA.
Jaala Torrence and Alex Salter both pitched against UCF. Torrence rolled through the lineup the first time, but faced some trouble the second time around. Salter allowed two earned runs in relief, before Fouts came in to close out the game. Alabama got some good experience for its backups and encouraging production from Esman while this weekend once again proved that Fouts can handle the workload if needed.
Special newcomers
If it wasn't already determined from opening weekend, it was almost certainly cemented by her performance in Clearwater: Murphy has found his new leadoff hitter. The early enrollee freshman Cahalan is the only Alabama batter to collect a hit in all five games of the invitational.
Cahalan set the tone at the top of the lineup with leadoff hits against Duke, UCLA and UCF. In the win over Florida State, her solo home run to lead off the fourth inning broke up the perfect game and provided the spark that Alabama desperately needed at that point in the game.
The lone game against an unranked opponent allowed Murphy to play some different people and use a different starting lineup. Freshman Marlie Giles took advantage of her start at catcher. She went 3 for 3 at the plate with a pair of runs and an RBI. Fellow freshman Abby Duchscherer also had an RBI double in that game.
Freshman outfielder Kristen White was the story of Saturday. She had the game-winning, pinch-hit, walk-off RBI single against UCF, and then turned around to make a home-run robbing catch a few hours later in the win over Indiana to help preserve the shutout.
Alabama's freshman class last season didn't pan out super well with three players entering the portal during the offseason. So if this year's group can continue to contribute the ways it has through the first two weeks, it will bolster the depth of the team for this season and beyond.
Boosted resumé
The schedule lightens up significantly over the next few weeks. After playing five games in four days with four against ranked opponents, the Crimson Tide now has 13 straight games at home starting Wednesday night against Samford, none against ranked opponents—which is why going 4-1 in Clearwater was such a big deal.
Picking up three ranked wins, capped by the victory over Florida State, should go a long way in May when it comes time for NCAA Tournament seeding as the Crimson Tide now sits at 6-2 overall.
And with top teams like No. 1 Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State losing over the weekend, it shows that the race for OKC and the national title is wide open this year. And Alabama's performance in Clearwater showed it can compete with and beat the best and will be one of those teams in the hunt for the Women's College World Series and a national title.
See also:
Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Georgia
Montana Fouts' Complete Game Leads No. 12 Alabama to 2-1 Win over No. 7 Florida State
