The Alabama softball team has started its season off with a successful record. After being ranked No.1 by ESPN.com and USA Softball Collegiate polls last week, the team went 4-1 in the Citrus Classic tournament last weekend.
The tournament at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., gave the team their first loss of the season against Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday, 1-0. But the Crimson Tide also got four solid wins in the tournament against Virginia (4-0), Notre Dame (4-1), Fordham (3-1) and Oregon (10-0).
“I think one of our main focuses as a team this year is we don’t really like to put a face on the people we are playing,” said sophomore outfielder Kayla Braud. “We are going to prepare the same, we’re going to play our game no matter what, and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, we’re going to have the same mental approach, the same hard work at practice this week. We’re going to go out and play hard no matter who the opponent is.”
The Tide looks to improve its 20-1 record and undefeated record at home (5-0) this weekend in the Easton SEC/ACC Challenge that will take place in Alabama’s own stadium in Tuscaloosa. The first team the Tide will play in the tournament is North Carolina on Friday night.
“We’re playing some good competition this weekend,” said freshman infielder Ryan Iamurri. “It’s probably the best competition we’ve faced thus far, so we need to get our offense together. If we get the rest we need, we’ll come out strong. This weekend is our last non-conference weekend since we are playing ACC teams. This should prepare us for the rest of the SEC tournament that we have coming up after.”
Following its game against the Tar Heels, Alabama will take on Florida State Saturday afternoon. But, according to some of the team members, it’s not the teams they are playing that matter – it’s how well Alabama prepares for each game.
“Florida State for the last 25 years has been the most successful team in the South,” said head coach Patrick Murphy. “They’ve been in the World Series and come close to winning it. FSU just has great athletes and a great coaching staff. They’ll definitely be ready to play at North Carolina. The coach has been there for 20 years, also. For us, it’s great competition.”
This weekend will be the last weekend for the Tide to work out the kinks in its playing before its results start to count towards SEC play. SEC play starts March 16, with Bama’s first game starting at 3 p.m. and then another game at 5:30 p.m., followed by a three-game series against Georgia starting Friday at 6:30 p.m.
“It’s huge for us because it’s the last weekend before SEC play starts,” Murphy said. “We have a double header versus Auburn on Wednesday, then we have Georgia coming in, and it follows up with Tennessee that next weekend.”
