Three things Alabama softball must fix to win NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional
Alabama softball has lost five of its last eight games heading into the Tuscaloosa Regional in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 overall seed.
That’s all in the past now according to coach Patrick Murphy — the good and the bad.
"It never gets old," said Murphy. "We made the schedule but they (the team) beat the opponents they needed to beat to get in this position to be a host."
The Crimson Tide (41-11) carries an NCAA Tournament-record 43-game win streak in regional games into this year’s tournament. Murphy’s program has won every regional dating to the 2005 season, the longest active streak in Division Isoftball.
“One of the reasons we have the best fans in the country is because postseason is best season,” said pitcher Montana Fouts. “I think our fans are ready to show up and show out.”
Alabama begins regional play at 3 p.m. Friday against Chattanooga (29-25). Stanford (36-19) and Murray State (40-16-1) are also in the double-elimination regional.
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Here are three things the Crimson Tide needs to correct in order to win the Tuscaloosa Regional:
Pitching staff, emphasis on 'staff'
Murphy talked about the potential of having four pitchers with loads of experience earlier this season. That has not been the case.
With Lexi Kilfoyl out because of an undisclosed injury since April 23, Montana Fouts has started or appeared in each of the past eight games. Fouts accounts for 82% of innings pitched.
Jaala Torrence and Alex Salter showed signs of improvement this season, but neither has been in the circle much during the past month. Salter has the second-most innings with 6⅓ during the eight-game span.
In addition to Fouts, Murphy and pitching coach Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro will need innings from Torrence and Salter if Kilfoyl remains sidelined.
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Bats from months past must return
The Alabama offense got off to a blistering start to the season, averaging more than six runs per game –including 10 run-rule wins – before a late-season slide began April 22 during the Texas A&M series.
The Crimson Tide has failed to score more than four runs in any of its most recent eight games. Alabama scored a run or less in three of those games, and all three resulted in a loss.
During the slump, Alabama batters are just 5-for-54 (.093) with runners in scoring position and are batting .160 with runners on base. The Crimson Tide has had success getting the leadoff batter on with a .316 average but has not extended innings.
The offense did not have an inning with more than four batters in the most recent loss to Missouri in the SEC Tournament.
“We didn’t continue any inning. It’s not good enough unless you’re hitting four solo home runs,” Murphy said after the Missouri loss. “We have to score runs for our pitchers.”
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Strike first, strike hard
In four of its fivemost recent losses, the Crimson Tide failed to score first. In its 11 losses this year, Alabama has scored first only four times.That's a trend.
Alabama is outscoring opponents 51-14 in the first inning and is 17-3 when scoring in the first frame. The Crimson Tide is 30-4 after taking the first lead of the game.
“Each team in the tournament is good enough to be here," said third baseman Ashley Prange. “I think (it's) just (a matter of us) focusing on ourselves and really focusing on what we need to improve on to compete.”
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Reach Brett Greenberg at bgreenberg@gannett.com or follow @74talk on Twitter.