Why Jocelyn Briski Should Win SEC Pitcher of the Year: Just a Minute

The Alabama junior leads the SEC in conference wins, strikeouts and is fourth in ERA.

Alabama pitcher Jocelyn Briski prepares to pitch in the third game of the series against Texas on Apr. 4, 2026. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral assistant editor and softball writer Katie Windham makes the case for Alabama junior Jocelyn Briski to win SEC Pitcher of the Year.

More players from Alabama have won SEC Pitcher of the Year than any other school, and there's a good chance the Crimson Tide can add to that total with junior Jocelyn Briski this season. She would join names like Montana Fouts, Jackie Traina and Kelsi Dunne.

The SEC awards are supposed to be determined based soley on stats from conference games. Whether or not you're looking at Briski's SEC slate or her entire body of work, Briski has put up phenomenal numbers.

She is tied with Florida's Keagan Rothrock for most wins in conference play at 12. She also leads the league with 90 strikeouts in SEC games. Briski has only walked 14 batters in conference play which is by far the lowest number for any other pitchers with the same number of innings thrown as her.

For example, Rothrock (89.6 inning pitched) and Briski (80.7) have thrown more innings in SEC games than any other pitcher. Rothrock has 43 walks to Briski's 14. The Alabama pitcher has one less loss than Rothrock as well.

Briski's 2.34 ERA in SEC games is good for fourth in the league. She also has two saves.

Every single time Briski has taken the circle this season, she has given Alabama a quality start. She has only allowed more than three earned runs in a start once, and it was five runs against Texas, who has one of the best offenses in college softball.

There are still three games to go in conference play, so every pitcher will still have a few more opportunities to make their case about why the deserve to win the award. Alabama isn't focused on individual awards as the Tide prepares to face South Carolina this weekend, but head coach Patrick Murphy did confirm that Briski will be Alabama's nominee for Pitcher of the Year.

Briski will likely get two more starts against the Gamecocks this weekend starting with Game 1 on Thursday night.

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