The Alabama softball team will begin fall play this weekend with a game against Jefferson State on Friday and a double-header with the University of Alabama at Huntsville and Northwest Florida State on Sunday.

“It’s a great opportunity to let the players play against someone other than each other for a change,” head coach Patrick Murphy said. “We’ve been practicing for about three weeks now, only able to scrimmage against ourselves. It’s great to just go out and play, knowing it doesn’t count against our record.”

Last year’s season was ended with a game-three loss in the Super Regionals to Hawaii at home, a loss the team didn’t forget as they parted ways in the offseason.

“Since our season ends during summer break, a lot if us go home,” sophomore Kayla Braud said. “I just went home, worked out every day, even worked out at my high school a little bit and came back ready for the strenuous training in the fall.”

Junior Cassie Reilly-Boccia said, “It was a long time to just think about how we didn’t make the College World Series last year, and I used that as a motivator.”

When the players came back for weightlifting on Aug. 30, it was clear the offseason was a good one for this year’s Crimson Tide.

“It was the first time in the history of our program that every team member passed the fitness test,” Murphy said. “It’s things like that that make this group so easy to coach. They’re very hard working, and they show a lot of enthusiasm in everything they do.”

Looking forward to the first games of the fall season, the team is getting more anxious everyday.

“We’re all really, really excited,” Reilly-Boccia said. “To have the chance to put on that Alabama uniform again, and for all the freshmen to put it on for the first time, it’s a great feeling.”

Excitement aside, the team is all business about these relatively casual games.

“These games are kind of a reward for all their hard work,” Murphy said. “But we want to go out and see how people hit and pitch with the bases loaded. We want to see how people play in these game situations. We want to see how these freshmen perform, too. I know what these seniors can do, and I’m pretty sure what these juniors can do. But we don’t know much about these freshmen.”

The players are curious about how the freshmen will perform but are also ready to start establishing those on-field connections.

“We need to get the feel of how each of our teammates plays in certain game situations,” Reilly-Boccia said. “We just need to come together as a team on this field. We already have a great team chemistry, it just needs to show on the field.”

Braud said, “It’s a really great opportunity to get to know each other as a team. It’ll help our team chemistry to go out and have fun together.”

With all the focus on these next few weeks of games, the Tide manages to keep looking ahead to developing the team for regular season play.

“We’re going to take it one day at a time,” Reilly-Boccia said. “But at the same time, we have our long-term goals. Winning the Southeastern Conference is one of them. We definitely want to win it all, but we will start with an SEC Championship.”

“I just want to pick up where I left off. I want to show maturity in my sophomore season, and play with the same energy and excitement like it’s an SEC Tournament game or a post-season game,” Braud said.