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Alabama Softball Hosts Kentucky for NCAA Super Regionals - University of Alabama Athletics

No. 3 seed Alabama (48-7) hosts 14th-seeded Kentucky (43-14) for Super Regionals this weekend at Rhoads Stadium starting Friday at 12 p.m. CT on ESPN2
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THIS WEEK: #3 ALABAMA (48-7) VS. #14 KENTUCKY (43-14) AT NCAA SUPER REGIONAL​

  • Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Rhoads Stadium
  • Friday, May 28 – 12 p.m. CT – ESPN2
  • Saturday, May 29 – 1 p.m. CT – ESPN
  • (If Necessary) Sunday, May 30 – 3 p.m. CT - ESPNU

SCOUTING ALABAMA​

  • Third-seeded Alabama earned three shutout wins in last week's NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional to advance to the Super Regional round, hosting 14th-seeded Kentucky at Rhoads Stadium
  • The Crimson Tide is the only team to play in every Super Regional since the current postseason format was adopted in 2005
  • Alabama has won every regional round since 2005 and has won an NCAA-record 43-straight games in regional play, stretching back to 2007
  • Crimson Tide pitching combined to throw 20.0 shutout innings last weekend with 44 strikeouts, including a combined no-hitter from Lexi Kilfoyl and Krystal Goodman against Alabama State
  • Alabama rides a 16-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, including four-straight shutouts and 14 wins against ranked teams, outscoring its opponents 103-30

ALABAMA AT NCAA SUPER REGIONALS​

  • Alabama is the only team to play in all 16 Super Regionals since the current postseason format was adopted in 2005
  • This year marks the 11th time the Tide has hosted Super Regionals, previously winning nine of the 10 at Rhoads Stadium
  • Six of the 10 Super Regionals in Tuscaloosa were won by Alabama in two games. The Tide overcame a game-one loss to defeat Stanford (2011) and Oklahoma (2015) and lost game two to Texas (2019) before claiming game three, while a three-game series loss to Hawai'i (2010) stands as Alabama's only home loss in the round of 16

INSIDE THE SERIES VS. KENTUCKY​

  • Overall: Alabama leads 50-11
    • In Tuscaloosa: 23-5 | In Lexington: 24-6 | At Neutral Sites: 3-0
  • Current Streak: Alabama +1
  • Last Meeting: May 13, 2021 - W, 5-1 - Tuscaloosa, Ala. (SEC Tournament)
  • Last Meeting in NCAA Tournament: May 30, 2014 - W, 2-0 - Oklahoma City, Okla. (WCWS)

LAST TIME OUT: NCAA REGIONALS​

  • Alabama swept its opponents at last weekend's NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional with a trio of shutouts, defeating Alabama State, 9-0, before earning 6-0 and 5-0 wins over Clemson
  • The Tide has won 16-consecutive NCAA regional rounds, the longest active streak in D-1 softball, and has not lost a game in the regional round since 2007, an NCAA-record streak of 43-straight games
  • This year marks the first time Alabama has shut out every opponent in the regional round
  • Tide pitching combined for 44 strikeouts over three games, beating the previous Alabama regional record of 35 strikeouts set across five games in 2007
  • Lexi Kilfoyl and Krystal Goodman threw a combined no-hitter Friday against Alabama State, the fifth postseason no-hitter in program history and first since Jackie Traina on May 20, 2011 against Jackson State

FOUTS HITS 300 STRIKEOUT MARK​

  • Montana Fouts threw her 300th strikeout of the season last weekend against Clemson, marking the eighth time an Alabama pitcher has broke the 300 mark
  • It is the first 300 strikeout season since Alexis Osorio finished the 2017 campaign with 334
  • Jackie Traina holds the Alabama single-season record with 361 during the 2012 national championship year
  • Of the eight pitchers with 300 strikeouts, Fouts' 1.60 K/IP only trails 2010 Kelsi Dunne (1.66) and 2017 Osorio (1.65)
300 Strikeout Seasons

  1. Jackie Traina - 361 (2012)
  2. Kelsi Dunne - 355 (2010)
  3. Stephanie VanBrakle - 345 (2006)
  4. Stephanie VanBrakle - 341 (2005)
  5. Alexis Osorio - 334 (2017)
  6. Kelsi Dunne - 331 (2011)
  7. Shelley Laird - 310 (2000)
  8. Montana Fouts - 303 (2021)

PROGRAM-RECORD EIGHT EARN NFCA ALL-REGION HONORS​

  • The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced its 2021 All-Region teams last week, with Alabama taking home a program-record eight All-South Region accolades
  • Montana Fouts, Bailey Hemphill and Alexis Mack earned first team honors with Elissa Brown and Kaylee Tow on the second team and Lexi Kilfoyl, KB Sides and Savannah Woodard on the third team
  • The eight honorees are the most in program history, beating the previous high of six set in 2019, 2012, 2011, 2009 and 2007
  • The eight honorees are tied for the most of any team this season along with Arizona, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon and UCLA
  • Alabama has placed at least two on the list every year since its inaugural 1997 season and has earned a total of 109 awards over that time

HEMPHILL BREAKS UA CAREER HOME RUN RECORD​

  • After tying the Alabama career home run record with two homers May 13 against Kentucky at the SEC Tournament, Bailey Hemphill launched herself into Crimson Tide history with a sixth-inning home run the next day against Tennessee to move into first place with 61 career home runs
  • She passes previous record-holder Kelly Kretschman, who held the Alabama record at 60 since 2001
  • Now with 62 home runs, she ranks fifth in SEC history
  • Hemphill previously tied the UA single-season record in 2019 with 26 home runs
  • With her second home run in game one against Auburn on March 12, Hemphill became the third player in program history to surpass the 200 career RBI mark, joining Charlotte Morgan (2007-10) and Kaila Hunt (2011-14) in the prestigious club
  • Now with 235 career RBIs, Hemphill passed Hunt's total of 215 and continues to close in on Morgan's school-record total of 264

DOUBLE DIGIT STRIKEOUTS​

  • Montana Fouts has thrown 10+ strikeouts 19 times this season, setting a new Alabama single-season record
  • Her 13 most recent double-digit totals have come against ranked teams
  • She set an SEC Tournament record with 39 strikeouts across her three starts, including a single-game record 15 against Kentucky
Most Games with 10+ Strikeouts in a Season

  • 19 - Montana Fouts (2021)
  • 16 - Stephanie VanBrakle (2006)
  • 16 - Kelsi Dunne (2010)
  • 15 - Kelsi Dunne (2011)
  • 15 - Alexis Osorio (2017)

PITCHING POWER​

  • The Alabama bullpen owns a 1.68 team ERA with just 87 earned runs allowed over 363.1 innings pitched
  • Tide pitchers have struck out 492 batters as opposed to just 102 walks
  • Opponents are only hitting 48-for-302 (.159) with runners in scoring position, striking out 110 times
  • Alabama leads the SEC in ERA (1.77), strikeouts (448), wins (45) and fewest earned runs allowed (87)
  • Montana Fouts is second in the SEC and sixth nationally with 275 strikeouts
  • Alabama ranks seventh nationally with a 4.48 strikeout-to-walk ratio

PASSING IT DOWN​

  • Alabama is 174-for-534 (.326) with runners in scoring position this season, including 29 doubles, 22 home runs, 94 walks and 260 RBIs
  • Conversely, opponents are batting just 48-for-293 (.164) with runners in scoring position and 64 RBIs
Alabama Leaders with Runners in Scoring Position

 
Click to expand...

Kentucky softball made its only trip to the Women’s College World Series in 2014. This season may be the Wildcats’ best chance to return since then, even though Tuscaloosa traditionally is a road block that teams cannot circumvent.

Setting aside the inevitable geography puns about UK having to go through Alabama and Montana to get to Oklahoma, the NCAA Super Regional that starts Friday won’t be easy. But it also won’t be a shock to the system for a Kentucky team that has split four games with Alabama this season, winning two of three in a home series in Lexington, then losing an SEC Tournament quarterfinal at the Rhoads House.

Unlike teams that haven’t played softball in Tuscaloosa, UK will understand the situation that others only realize once the game has started. Yes, it can be hot (although this weekend looks to be mild).

But what makes the Rhoads House so daunting is not the heat, it’s the hostility.

“If you’re not used to that environment, it’s something that can be a little crazy, so it has to be a team like ours that’s used to playing there, that’s done it, that’s going to have a fighting chance,” Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson said earlier this week. “Obviously, they’re a great team.”

Equally obvious, though, has been the steady rise of Kentucky, among the other SEC programs. Florida and Alabama have led the way but the rising Tide (or the rising Gators, if you prefer) has tilted the balance of power ever so slightly from the West Coast. Seven of the 16 teams still playing for the NCAA championship are from the SEC, and there is a reasonable chance that five SEC teams, or more than half the field, could make it to Oklahoma City.

That isn’t to disrespect the Pac-12, which already has had one round of grievance-airing when the NCAA pairings were announced. No one underestimates UCLA, technically the reigning champion thanks to its 2019 WCWS win. But, with all due respect to the programs at Arizona and Washington, no one would be shocked if UCLA was the only West Coast team in Oklahoma City next week.

Softball is a different sport than football, but it has been interesting to watch the SEC grow stronger and stronger and pinpoint a reason for it. The growth has followed a very football- like geographic curve, one that includes not only the 13 SEC teams but also the more football-oriented ACC teams as well: Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech. I’d call that group the most SEC-like part of the ACC, although I tread carefully lest someone coached by my friend Dabo Swinney takes umbrage.

There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg issue at work. Does the football-driven financial success of the SEC programs (and a few others dotted around the nation) create the resources that lead to building the best facilities or hiring the best coaches? That’s not entirely limited to softball, either. Kentucky won the NCAA women’s volleyball championship last month. Ole Miss won the women’s golf title earlier this week. That can’t be entirely random.

The arms race in football, and that means arms in the facility-and-coach terms, not just the strong pitching arms of Montana Fouts or Autumn Humes, has produced an upper group of just a few teams with so much talent that competition can be difficult.

In football, there is still a gulf where you wouldn’t line up Kentucky’s roster, or almost anyone else’s, and say “they stack up pretty well” against Alabama. In softball, you can say that. Yes, Kentucky has to get past a premier pitcher in a snake-pit environment, but no one could look at this weekend and think the Wildcats don’t have a chance.
 
Did not understand walking Kowalik to load the bases to pitch to Spangler in the 7th. No room for error there. Both players have had at least one hit in each of the 5 games against Bama. Both have had a two hit game. At that point Kowalik was 6 for 19 and Spangler was 6 for 16.
 

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