| BSB/SB 🥎~ Tuscaloosa Super Regional: OKC Bound! Alabama Softball Punches its 14th Ticket to Women’s College World Series

[UA Press Release]

OKC Bound! Alabama Softball Punches its 14th Ticket to Women’s College World Series - University of Alabama Athletics

Alabama softball defeated Northwestern, 3-2, in Sunday's game three of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional to punch the Crimson Tide's 14th ticket to the Women's College

rolltide.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama softball defeated Northwestern, 3-2, in Sunday's game three of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional to punch the Crimson Tide's 14th ticket to the Women's College World Series.

No. 5 seed Alabama (45-20) will be making its 14th appearance in Oklahoma City, returning after a one-year absence. After falling to Northwestern (42-13) in game one of the Super Regional, the Crimson Tide rallied to take games two and three, marking the third time in program history Alabama has done so. Both previous instances also occurred in Tuscaloosa, against Stanford in 2011 and Oklahoma in 2015.

Alabama opens play at the 2023 Women's College World Series Thursday, June 1 at 11 a.m. CT against Tennessee on ESPN.

Montana Fouts (25-10) earned the win in relief, the 100th of her career in her final game at Rhoads Stadium. She is the fourth player in program history to earn 100 wins, joining Shelley Laird (115), Kelsi Dunne (113) and Jackie Traina (106).

After a one-hour lightning delay in the bottom of the third, two singles and a walk quickly loaded the bases for Alabama before Ally Shipman roped a single down the left field line, driving in two to give the Crimson Tide the first lead of the game. With two on and one out in the top of the fourth, Fouts entered to pitch in relief. After a strikeout for out number two, a bloop single to shallow center drove in a run before a force out at third base ended the half-inning with the score now 2-1.

Leading off the bottom of the fifth, Jenna Johnson bounced one off the foul pole for a solo home run to make it a 3-1 game. With the score the same in the top of the seventh, a one-out solo home run from Maeve Nelson cut the lead to one but a groundout and strikeout sealed the victory to send the Tide to OKC.

From Head Coach Patrick Murphy​

"First, I want to congratulate Northwestern on a great year. They are a great opponent and a classy bunch. Great fans and great coaching staff. I'm sure their seniors are going to do great things in life with a hell of a degree from Northwestern University. I cannot tell you how gratifying the last two weeks have been. It's been such a great team to coach with great senior leadership and everyone has bought in. It has been a storybook season with everything we've been through. It's still an unreal feeling sitting here knowing we're going to Oklahoma City."

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Just really glad that the Sr's get one last ride and won't have their season (and college careers) end at home. They got to walk out of Rhoads stadium with smiles and fans going nuts...

 

[TerryP]

Just really glad that the Sr's get one last ride and won't have their season (and college careers) end at home. They got to walk out of Rhoads stadium with smiles and fans going nuts...

The dog pile looked like a scene from *Downton Abbey;" so prim, posh, proper, and "lady-like."

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[mando]

Some great pictures. Montana Fouts has been such a geat competitor and ambassodor for Alabama. Gotta find her a spot on the staff when she hangs up the cleats. You just need people that love Alabama and are competitors at their core but be around to inlfuence younger players.

 

[mando]

This is an impressive group of young ladies.

 

[alabama mike]

Best wishes against the Viles. Let's crush the orange!

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

We all know Jaala Torrence stepped up in the regionals, but seeing the numbers is pretty impressive. She had a ton of pressure on her shoulders and she went out there and had the best week of her career. Her postseason stats… 30 innings, 22 hits, 26 K’s, 8 BB, 2 ER. That was good for a 0.60 ERA.

Her working in combination with Fouts worked out really well and took some pressure off of Fouts. What Fouts is doing alone is impressive enough… to maintain good control while having to back off on her stride and rely more on spin instead of velocity… and doing it all on a partial ACL tear that is just waiting to be repaired or rehabbed at this point… She is an absolute boss.