Alabama Softball: Back from the brink or season over for Tide?

Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Softball came close to losing a Super Regional. Northwestern, 42-12 for the season, and a participant in last year’s College Softball World Series won on Friday, 3-1.

For Montana Fouts and Ashley Prange, Saturday night could have been the last of their college careers. Both Crimson Tide players made sure it wasn’t.

Prange has been the Tide’s only consistent hitter in the Super Regional. She had two hits in the loss on Friday. On Saturday night, Prange scored early after hitting a double, She drove in the winning run in the seventh inning, with a hard-hit grounder up the center of the Northwestern infield.

Coming off recovery from a knee injury on May 11, Montana Fouts started Friday’s game. She was not in typical Fouts’ form and was relieved by Jaala Torrence after 3.1 innings. Torrence, who had been outstanding in recent outings, was the starter on Saturday night. She was good again in game two of the Super Regional, with a key strikeout in the bottom of the third inning, when Northwestern had the bases loaded.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Patrick Murphy decided to go back to his ace, bringing in Fouts to replace Torrence. Montana delivered as she has throughout her Alabama Softball career, facing eight batters and denying each one, including ending the game with back-to-back strikeouts.

The Crimson Tide’s dauntless performance might not have happened had it not been for a warning track catch by Kristen White in the bottom of the fourth inning. The ball’s trajectory may or may not have taken it over the fence, but if not for White, it easily would have been a double or triple.

Along with the heroics of Alabama Crimson Tide players, the Alabama softball crowd’s steadfast support was a key factor in the game. In post-game comments, Patrick Murphy said,

"That crowd was awesome. It is an unbelievable feeling to coach in an atmosphere like this. I credit the fans for coming out. It was a late Saturday night and magic happened at the Rhoads House. It was a great game between two really good teams. It was a dogfight the whole way and I’m really proud of our bunch. Jaala [Torrence] gave us a good start and Montana [Fouts] is just unreal. [Ashley] Prange got the big hit in the seventh and I thought our defense played really well tonight."

Alabama Softball and Sunday expectations

What can Alabama fans expect on Sunday? Northwestern is a tough team, deep in big-game experience. The game will likely be another tight battle. Hopefully Alabama bats will produce more runs.

Alabama Softball is 22-6 in Tuscaloosa in NCAA Super regional games. In its only two previous opening game, Super Regional losses, Alabama came back to win two each time.