Seventh-Inning Rally Leads No. 25 Alabama Softball to Win at North Alabama

Patrick Murphy picked up his 1300th career win as the head coach of the Crimson Tide.

Alabama Head Coach Patrick Murphy coaches from third base against North Alabama at Hilda B. Anderson Softball Stadium in Florence, AL on Wednesday, Mar 26, 2025. | Alabama Athletics

Alabama softball left 10 runners on base and was held scoreless through the first six innings of Wednesday night's game at North Alabama. The Crimson Tide was losing by two runs heading into the seventh inning and got down to its final out.

Lauren Johnson had the pinch hit RBI single with two outs to tie the game, and No. 25 Alabama rallied to score two more runs in the inning on the way to a 4-2 win over the Lions in Florence.

The victory was the 1300th career win for Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy.

Congrats to Head Coach Patrick Murphy on earning his 1,300th win at Alabama!

He is just the 7th Division-I coach to earn 1,300 wins entirely at one program@UACoachMurphy #Team29 #RollTide pic.twitter.com/ILllN5YFOw

— Alabama Softball (@AlabamaSB) March 27, 2025

"To win 1,300 games at one place, it’s all about the people - the players first, the coaches, the staff, the fans, administration," Murphy siad in a press release. "I couldn’t have asked for a better place to live and work for the last 29 years. We were hitting the ball right at people today and we left a lot of people on base. We weren’t striking out, so we were putting the ball in play but it was just right at people. I told the team we have to make our own luck and finally in the seventh I think we got a little bit of that luck going our way. Baseball and softball are games of averages and today was one of those days where it went in our favor."

Senior second baseman Kali Heivilin had a 4-for-4 day at the plate and got the second hit to help start the seventh-inning rally after Brooke Ellestad led off the inning with a single.

Catelyn Riley got the start in the circle for the Crimson Tide and gave up five hits and two earned runs over three innings as UNA led 2-0 after three innings.

Emily Winstead and Jocelyn Briski combined for four innings of scoreless relief work, and Briski picked up her 10th win of the season. The entire pitching staff only gave up one walk on the day.

Alabama improves to 23-12 on the season and returns to Rhoads Stadium this weekend for a three-game SEC series with No. 17 Georgia.