Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy sits behind his desk, admiring the new batting gloves the team will have this season. Outside, it’s windy and chilly, but it hasn’t kept the team from practice.

Now in its second season since winning the Women’s College World Series, the Alabama softball team is practicing the same routines. The team takes two months off every year, Murphy said.

“You know, one of the things I think that’s made us successful is we do give rest,” Murphy said. “Especially in a 56-game season, you can’t go out all the time, so mentally and physically you have to take a day off, and I think that’s one of the keys to why we’ve been successful at the very end almost every year, because they’re still fresh.”

Last season, the defending national champions went 45-15 on the year but didn’t make it past the NCAA Super Regionals. The Crimson Tide saw its season ended by a Tennessee team that made it to the national championship.

Pitcher Jackie Traina went from 42-3 in 2012 to 19-6 in 2013. Murphy said he expects her to have a big senior season this year. Junior Leslie Jury started her career at Alabama 11-4 in 2012 and put up a 18-7 record last season.

“What was really neat, this fall, we had a scrimmage,” Murphy said. “It was at night because some of the girls had bad class schedules during the day, so we would go at night a lot of the times, and in the last inning of one of the last scrimmages, one of the kids came into the dugout and said, ‘I think Jury’s throwing harder than Jackie,’ and this was at the end of a seven-inning scrimmage so if that’s true, we’re going to have two really good pitchers. I mean, rarely do you have one that throws that hard, but to have two, that’s legit.”

Jury and Traina won’t be the only pitchers in the rotation. Freshman Sydney Littlejohn pitched a complete game in her fall debut, allowing two runs on two hits.

“And then Sydney, you know that was – you never know what you’re going to get with a freshman quarterback or a freshman pitcher, and for her to come in and do what she did was impressive, in the games and in scrimmages, it’s just a totally different look than the other two, a lot more spin, and kept a lot of people off balance,” Murphy said.

Murphy said Littlejohn will be a good addition to the rotation this season.

“I think we could see a couple games where, you know, she pitches for four or five and Jackie comes in for two or Leslie comes in for two,” Murphy said. “That would be a really tough combination, too – it’s like starting Greg Maddux and then finishing with Randy Johnson.”