The University of Alabama softball team will begin the road to Oklahoma City tomorrow in Tuscaloosa as the NCAA Softball Regionals get underway. The Tide comes into the tournament ranked as the number 2 seed in the country but facing possibly one of the toughest roads to Oklahoma City as any team. Coach Patrick Murphy and crew will face off against three top 25 teams this weekend as well as the 2 top ranked teams for ERA in the nation. A tough road in the beginning will prepare the team for the gauntlet of the tournament.
Tide softball Coach Patrick Murphy believes it could be one of the more difficult regionals for any team going back a few years. “I think the more we’ve thought about the regional and looked at some other regionals, and looked at years past, this is probably one of the toughest roads of any of the teams here that are going to have to get through this regional.”
“If we were going to go down the road past regionals, the pitching is probably just as tough in this regional than it will be the whole ride along. What better way to prepare yourself for the rest? It will be a tough weekend for sure, but it will be worth it”, said Ryan Iamurri. Jordan Patterson knows the Tide will have to face some tough competition if they expect to hoist the trophy and now is just as good of a time as any to begin. “I think the whole team’s mindset is `to be the best you have to beat the best.’ Whether we have to play the best teams in regionals or supers or at the world series, we’re going to have to eventually. I think for us, it’s more of a `bring it on’ mindset. We don’t need anyone to do us any favors. We’re going to be ready from here on out for every single game.”
Preparation for the tournament has gotten easier as videos on opponents has become more of the norm than in years past. You can bet that this squad will come out prepared and ready for action. Iamurri says that the staff does a good job of getting the team and ready and they stick to the game plan. “They do a good job of preparing us. We stick to our plans. If worse comes to worse, we play like we play and we’ll be fine.” Patterson added, “Our coaches do a really good job. They get tons of scouting reports from other teams, so even though we might lack some video on Edwardsville I think we’re still prepared. We have a report on what their pitcher throws and they do a great job of finding out everything they can about other teams. I think that even though we don’t necessarily have as much video on them, we still feel like we’re prepared. They do a really good job with that.”
Schedule for the Tuscaloosa Regional
Friday, May 16
Game One – 3:30 – USC Upstate (visitor) vs. South Alabama (home)
Game Two – 6:00 – SIU-E (visitor) vs. Alabama (home)
Saturday, May 17
Game Three – 1:00 – Game One Winner vs. Game Two Winner
Game Four – 3:30 – Game One Loser vs. Game Two Loser
Game Five – 6:00 – Game Four Winner vs. Game Three Loser
Sunday, May 18
Game Six – 1:00 – Game Three Winner vs. Game Five Winner
Game Seven (if necessary) – 3:30 – Game Six Winner vs. Game Six Loser
To what the other teams in the Tuscaloosa Regional had to say, click here.