One of the reasons I'm as big of a softball fan as I am is due to watching Coach Murphy basically start the program.
The program actually started in 1997. I knew about it, but didn't pay much attention to what was going on with the ladies until reading about the team in 1998āspecifically about Kelly Kretschman (who still holds records at Bama.) That 1998 team won the SEC tournament.
When Murphy was promoted from assistant coach to head coach before the 1999 season, his Alabama teams still practiced and played in local parks. They set up temporary fences before practice and took them down again afterward to make room for the slow-pitch recreational leagues with whom they shared those public parks.
I vividly recall the first year watching the ladies play, 1999, and more specifically the first gameāa loss to a top 25 Iowa team. More importantly, I remember the Tide sweeping Tennessee that season. Those wins, combined with UT being my biggest rival as a fan of Bama athletics, planted the hook firmly.
Fast forward to now...the softball team continued its strong start to the 2014 season with a pair of wins, dominating Virginia Tech 14-5 to give Coach Murphy his 800th career win at Alabama. Murphy is just the 15th active D1 coach with 800+ wins at their current schoolāthe only one in the SEC.
Roll Murph Roll!!
The program actually started in 1997. I knew about it, but didn't pay much attention to what was going on with the ladies until reading about the team in 1998āspecifically about Kelly Kretschman (who still holds records at Bama.) That 1998 team won the SEC tournament.
When Murphy was promoted from assistant coach to head coach before the 1999 season, his Alabama teams still practiced and played in local parks. They set up temporary fences before practice and took them down again afterward to make room for the slow-pitch recreational leagues with whom they shared those public parks.
I vividly recall the first year watching the ladies play, 1999, and more specifically the first gameāa loss to a top 25 Iowa team. More importantly, I remember the Tide sweeping Tennessee that season. Those wins, combined with UT being my biggest rival as a fan of Bama athletics, planted the hook firmly.
Fast forward to now...the softball team continued its strong start to the 2014 season with a pair of wins, dominating Virginia Tech 14-5 to give Coach Murphy his 800th career win at Alabama. Murphy is just the 15th active D1 coach with 800+ wins at their current schoolāthe only one in the SEC.
Roll Murph Roll!!
