What Patrick Murphy Told Alabama Slugger Brooke Wells after Hitless Weekend in Supers

The Crimson Tide's offensive leader has struggled at the plate through the first two weeks of the NCAA tournament, but the slate is wiped clean as Alabama heads to the Women's College World Series.

Alabama infielder Brooke Wells rounds third on her home run in the Crimson Classic game against St Thomas on Mar. 1, 2026. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama sophomore slugger Brooke Wells has been a major part of the Crimson Tide's offensive improvement this season after transferring in from Houston.

Wells leads the team in home runs (23), RBIs (65), walks (41) and slugging percentage (.864.) She is alone in third place on Alabama's single season home run record behind two program legends in Bailey Hemphill and Kelly Kretschman.

But her first two weekends in the NCAA tournament haven't been quite as successful. Wells did hit a home run in the regional final against USC Upstate, but she was hitless in super regional play against LSU. Overall, in the NCAA tournament, she is 2-for-18 with eight strikeouts.

Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy is keeping things positive with his offensive star as the No. 1 Crimson Tide travels to Oklahoma City to take on No. 8 UCLA in the opening round of the Women's College World Series.

"The first thing I told her Monday at practice is, ‘Guess what? We’re going to the World Series.’" Murphy said. "Whatever she did, did not matter. And now is another opportunity. The slate is wiped clean. It doesn’t matter what she did the first two weekends. It doesn’t matter what she did in the regular season. It all starts over. The best thing, for all of us, is we’re still playing."

Wells has not gone more than three consecutive games without a hit at any point this season. The three-game stretch only happened one time early in the season back in late February.

Multiple players stepped up on offense at different spots throughout the lineup during the Crimson Tide's sweep of LSU in Supers. Junior shortstop Salen Hawkins was on a 10-game hitless streak during regionals before breaking out of the slump in the regional final. She then had the important two-RBI single in Game 2 against LSU.

"The key hit to me all weekend was Salen Hawkins two-out, two-run single down the left field line," Murphy said. "And that was from a kid who was not hot, and she came through in the clutch, biggest hit of her career at Alabama. And those are the things that we need.

"The other thing against UCLA is, they have the best offense in the country. We cannot get shut down. We have got to take advantage of opportunities–– runner at second, bases loaded, whatever it might be–– we have to score those people on base."

Alabama takes on UCLA Thursday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

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