Is Montana Fouts Alabama Softball's Version of Tua Tagovailoa? All Things CW

Patrick Murphy is one of those coaches at the University of Alabama (men's golf Jay Seawell is another) who isn't afraid to make a comparison when it includes a reference to Crimson Tide football.

He's someone who gets the fan base as well as anyone, and let's face it he roots for Nick Saban too.

So for the last five years, as long as Montana Fouts has been on the Crimson Tide roster, he's come up with different ways to try and describe how important the ace pitcher has been to the Alabama softball program. It changed over time, until he finally settled on one comparison in particular.

"She’s our Tua," he's said countless times, including at the Tuscaloosa Regional, meaning, of course, former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. By doing so he's praising not just his pitcher's physical presence and ability to lead a team on the field, but also her tenacity and determination when trying to do something like play through an injury.

(He could have said Bryce Young as well, but someone probably would have been quick to point out that Fouts is clearly taller).

Fouts didn't pitch this past weekend in the Tuscaloosa Regional, although she obviously wanted to give it a go and warmed up in the bullpen during both of Sunday's games against Middle Tennessee State. Eventually she stopped and savored the final 1-0 win with her teammates in the dugout as Alabama advanced to host a Super Regional in the NCAA Tournament next weekend.

Remember when Tagovailoa suffered injuries to both ankles in the 2018 SEC Championship Game against Georgia? Murphy didn't point to that game specifically, but this was a little reminiscent. Granted, no one's quite ready to say that junior pitcher Jaala Torrence, who threw two complete-game shutouts in the regional, is the equivalent of Jalen Hurts. But it would have been incredibly ironic if Alabama's search for a solid, consistent No. 2 starter coincided with another season-ending loss in a regional to end Fouts' collegiate career.

One also can't help but notice how Fouts' time with the Crimson Tide is sort of coming full-circle. As a freshman during the 2019 season she suffered a painful rib injury that could have ended her season. Instead, Alabama shut her down for a while and then had her on a pitch count after she came back.

The team rallied to make the Women's College World Series, but took a 3-2 loss in the opener to top-seeded Oklahoma, and had to work it's way back through the loser's bracket. Alabama beat Florida and Arizona, knocking both out of the tournament, and then had the daunting task of having to beat the Sooners twice in a row on the same day (before the home-state fans in Oklahoma City) to have a shot at UCLA in the finals. Fouts threw a gem, a complete-game shutout with just four hits allowed, as Alabama won 1-0.

But that was it.

“She comes up and says, ‘I’m good to go,’ and I said, ‘No, you are not going to pitch,” Murphy said of the decision. “I said, ‘Montana, I want you back again, again and again.'"

Although we'll never know what might have happened had Murphy given Fouts the ball again that day, Alabama subsequently lost, 7-3. The game went back-and-forth, but the Sooners finally pulled away in the sixth inning. Of course just about the first thing the coach was subsequently asked on national television was about not starting his ace, and his words to ESPN's Holly Rowe still reverberate.

"I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I threw her again, and again, and again, especially after what she went through," Murphy said.

Nevertheless, both he and Fouts would love to have another opportunity, assuming she continues to recover from a hyperextended knee and if Alabama can get past Northwestern in the best-of-three series next weekend at Rhoads Stadium. A return to Oklahoma City could be the perfect way for the "one-in-a-lifetime" player to wrap up her Crimson Tide career, although we already know that she'll have a very different ending from Tagovailoa.

When the quarterback suffered the painful hip injury at Mississippi State it was the last snap he took for the Crimson Tide. It looks like Fouts' final chapters could be typeset by what happens on the field.

Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW regularly appears on BamaCentral.