The University of Alabama softball team enters the home stretch of regular-season play as it hosts Southeastern Conference opponent Mississippi State.
The Tide bettered its win total Tuesday night against the Southern Mississippi Eagles, bringing its record to 38-6 this season. Head coach Patrick Murphy said the Tide had a great night offensively with a total of nine hits on the evening. Murphy said the Tide’s huge 11-0 win over the Eagles would carry momentum into this weekend’s series as well as the rest of the regular season.
“They’ve got some good pitchers at Mississippi State,” Murphy said. “We only have three more weekends, nine regular season games left and it’s down to the nitty gritty.”
Prior to the game against the Eagles, Murphy gave his players three days to rest their arms and come back strong for the remainder of the season. Pitcher Jacky Traina had not pitched for more than a week before pitching the last inning to finish out the game against the Eagles. Murphy said he hoped Traina’s rest would allow her to come out strong against the Bulldogs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Bulldogs head coach Vann Stuedeman is no stranger to the Tide’s game. She served 11 years as an assistant coach under Murphy at Alabama. Tide seniors spent two years with her before she received the job at Mississippi State.
“She was here for half of my career,” senior Kayla Braud said. “I know her very, very well, and she’s a great pitching coach, and she’s going to have a great team with Mississippi State. It’s going to be a great rivalry. You know you want to win against any SEC team, but I think it’s going to be a great weekend.”
Murphy said the series against his former colleague will be no different for him than any other SEC matchup this year. The Tide played against Stuedeman for the first time last year, winning the three-game series in regular play and defeated the Bulldogs again in the first round of SEC Championship play.
“The first time is the hardest, and then after that, it’s like any other game,” Murphy said. “You’re competitors. She’s a competitior, and it’s about the two teams, not about the coaches.”
Braud said she thinks the Tide is on an incline as it looks to improve with every game it plays. She said the team is working hard every day and is headed in the right direction. The senior still sees room for improvement in the Tide’s game.
“I think we need to do a better job of making adjustments,” Braud said. “We’re going to face better pitching and better teams in SEC competitions. We’re going to have to be able to make adjustments in the game.”
The Bulldog’s enter the weekend series with a 6-9 record in SEC play. The Tide’s opponent is also coming off a large 13-1 win over the Samford University Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
Game action starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Rhoads Stadium. The series will continue Saturday and Sunday as the Tide closes out its 10-game homestand. Next up, the Tide will take on the Louisiana State University Tigers in Baton Rouge, La.
