Three Takeaways from No. 1 Alabama Softball's Performance in Regionals

Alabama looked like a team deserving of the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament with its sweep through the regional weekend. The Crimson Tide opened play on Friday with an 8-0 run-rule victory over USC Upstate before beating Belmont 3-0 on Saturday.

In a rematch against the Spartans in the regional final on Sunday, Alabama handled business with a 9-0 win in which the offense hit four home runs. The Crimson Tide secured a spot in super regionals for the 20th time, where it will face No. 16 LSU.

Here are three of my biggest takeaways from the Crimson Tide's performance in regionals:

Pitching stays elite

5/16/26 WSB Alabama vs Bemont NCAA Regional Alabama Softball Player Jocelyn Briski (23) | UA Athletics

It feels like there's been some variation of this takeaway after almost every weekend of Alabama's season so far, and that's because the pitching has been so consistently good from the opening weekend until now.

As the stage continues to elevate in the NCAA tournament, it didn't affect the Crimson Tide's pitching. The Alabama starters and staff did not allow a run in regional play. Freshman Kaitlyn Pallozzi threw a five-inning shutout in Game 1. Jocelyn Briski picked up her 22nd win with a complete-game shutout against Belmont, and Vic Moten and Alea Johnson combined for the complete-game shutout in the regional final.

Both Briski and Moten carried perfect games into at least the fifth inning in their respective starts. Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy has been quick to credit pitching coach Lance McMahon all season long, and it is well deserved as the Crimson Tide put together another excellent pitching plan to open the NCAA tournament.

Alabama's pitchers only gave up six hits over three games with 15 strikeouts and just three total walks. The opponents only had 10 official plate appearances with a runner in scoring position across 19 innings of action.

Elite pitching wins championships, and Alabama continues to prove that it has the pitching to win a national championship

Audrey Vandagriff surging at the plate

Sophomore Audrey Vandagriff came into the year as Alabama's leadoff hitter after a stellar freshman campaign in which she led the team in hits, doubles, walks and steals with a .391 batting average. It hasn't been as smooth of a year at the plate for Vandagriff in 2026. About halfway through the season, her batting average dropped below .300, and she moved down in the lineup from the leadoff spot to the six hole during the Texas series in the regular season.

As a coach's kid, Vandagriff understood the move and was willing to do whatever the team and coach staff asked of her. Ever since postseason play started, Vandagriff has been clicking at the plate. She only hit two home runs during the entire SEC regular season and has three home runs in her last six games.

Vandagriff was 6 for 9 (.666) during regionals with two home runs, four RBIs, four runs scored and two stolen bases. Her season batting average is back up to .337, and she found multiple ways to get on base whether it was beating out a bunt single or crushing the ball over the outfield fence.

Alabama's current batting order has been clicking, but Vandagriff's performance at the plate makes the case for her to move back up in the order.

Alabama's consistency as a program is special

Crowd at Rhoads Stadium during NCAA tournament- May 16, 2026 | UA Athletics

There has been a regional hosted at Rhoads Stadium for the last 21 postseasons (there was not an NCAA softball tournament in 2020), and Alabama has advanced out of that regional 20 times now.

Literally no other program in college softball has been to super regionals more times than Alabama. It says a lot about what the expectations are in Tuscaloosa that fans have been disappointed the last few seasons with the Tide still consistently being one of the last 16 teams standing.

Murphy deserves credit for building a program that achieves at a high level year after year despite the changes across college athletics. He also deserves credit for putting together a product that fans want to support. The Rhoads House was rocking for regionals, but with SEC foe LSU coming into town for Supers, I expect it will be even more so next weekend.

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