Here are Three Key Players for Alabama Softball's Game 3 Super Regional Win
This Tuscaloosa Super Regional softball tournament had plenty of heroes throughout the weekend.
All the big moments, all the little moments and everything in between added up to a 3-2 Crimson Tide series win over Northwestern and another trip to the Women’s College World Series.
Here is a look at three players whose contributions Saturday paved the way for Alabama’s 14th appearance in the WCWS.
Montana Fouts
What a way for the Crimson Tide ace to earn win No. 100. In her last appearance at Rhoads Stadium, Fouts pitched the final 3 2/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts—all on a bum knee.
She’s not 100% healthy, even though Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said she will tell you otherwise. It was obvious Fouts didn’t have her best stuff on Sunday in the series finale, but she pushed through to the end.
“I have been telling myself and everybody else that I’ve felt like a million bucks for the past couple of weeks and I’m sticking with that,” Fouts said
Even when she got hit in the knee cap with a line drive, Fouts got a bit mad, brushed it off, went back in the circle and got the job done.
“That’s OK, I’ll deal with it and put some dirt on it later,” Fouts said of the scary moment.
“She did not say those things when she came back to the dugout,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
After Fouts got a strikeout for the final out, the team rushed to the circle where Fouts took a knee. They mobbed their ace and she was buried under a celebratory dog pile.
“(Pitching coach Lance McMahon) was very nervous. He turned to me and said, ‘I hope Montana isn’t under the bottom of that,’” Murphy said. “She was.”
Fouts came out from the pile unscathed. It was a joyous moment and one she relishes with her teammates, considering how the season unfolded.
“Everything, every single thing that's happened—the injury, the conversations, the losses— I’d do it all over again 14 times because that has brought us to this moment,” Fouts said. “And I think that all of those things are why we're going (to the WCWS).”
Jenna Johnson
The senior has 11 career homers in a Crimson Tide uniform, none bigger than her solo shot in the fifth inning to give Alabama a 3-1 lead.
The homer proved far more valuable in the seventh inning when Northwestern made it a 3-2 game with a home run.
“When the ball came off her bat I knew it was out,” Fouts said of her roommate’s blast. “There’s nobody more deserving of a situation like that. She works her butt off for her teammates.”
Johnson had just one hit over the weekend before her fifth-inning heroics. She had to do something different at the plate against Northwestern ace Danielle Williams.
“I knew I had to make an adjustment and to be honest, I was thinking hard ground ball,” Johnson said. “I split-gripped, widened my stance out to try and hit a ground ball and I was lucky to really put a good shot at one.
“I saw the ball curving toward the foul line and I was just like, 'Please, Jesus let that ball stay fair.' I’ve seen that ball go foul many times but I’m so glad it stayed fair.”
Johnson said she thought about a little girl this weekend, particularly during her big at-bat. There is a girl fighting cancer and Johnson wears a rubber bracelet on her left wrist in her honor, to remind her how hard that girl is fighting.
“She’s been at the forefront of our minds all season and somebody who we’ve been praying for,” Johnson said. “Since she’s been fighting and going through chemo and all the hard things that come with cancer, we know we can try to fight on the field. She’s been a motivation for us and somebody we’ve been praying for every day.”
Jaala Torrence
Fouts gets all the accolades, the awards and the attention. There’s a good reason for that. But when Fouts wasn’t available for the regional, Torrence answered the bell and provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the team.
She continued to step up this weekend, starting Game 2 and Game 3, providing solid pitching along the way.
She allowed three hits and one run in 3 1/3 innings Sunday, which allowed Fouts to rest and pitch the rest of the way in relief.
Murphy spoke with Torrence in the circle as Fouts got ready to enter the game.
“I told her she did a great job, and did exactly what we wanted her to do,” Murphy said.
“It’s just unreal. It was a coming out party for Jaala and everyone got to see it. The whole country saw it on television the last two weekends. We all knew she had it in her. I think she finally believes she does, too.”
