Many of you may still be reeling from Alabama football’s loss to LSU on Saturday, but something else came to my mind recently that I think will cheer many of you up:

We are less than 90 days away from Alabama softball.

The team finished the 2019 season with a program-record 60 wins and was one game away from qualifying for the Women’s College World Series championship. As the calendar inches toward 2020, Alabama will return with most of the group it had last season, as just four seniors graduated this May. 

During the offseason, the team reloaded, adding depth to key positions as well as speed and power throughout the lineup. Here is what you need to know about the 2020 Alabama softball team:

PITCHING DEPTH

Coming into the season, Alabama returns the SEC Freshman of the Year in sophomore ace Montana Fouts, the SEC Pitcher of the Year in senior Sarah Cornell and a pitcher who finished with a 1.63 ERA, which was in the top 40 of lowest ERAs in the NCAA last season, in senior Krystal Goodman. 

An already stacked pitching rotation became even stronger with the addition of freshman Lexi Kilfoyl, the No. 2-ranked softball player in the country, according to Extra Inning Softball’s class of 2019. 

In her two games of action during fall ball, Kilfoyl totaled 16 strikeouts and allowed just one run, showing impressive command of the strike zone. 

“I think between her, Montana, Sarah and Krystal, it is going to be the best pitching staff we have ever had,” coach Patrick Murphy said. “All of them are going to give us strong innings. Obviously, Kilfoyl, as a freshman against a [Division I] team, [showed] good control, only walked one and hit her spots for the most part.”

Murphy has had a few dominant pitchers during his time at Alabama, including Jaclyn Traina, Alexis Osorio, Sydney Littlejohn and current assistant coach Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro, who are all immortalized on the Rhoads Stadium outfield wall. 

Similar to what the national champion UCLA Bruins did with their pitching staff last season, Alabama now has the flexibility to use both hard throwers and off-speed pitchers to get hitters out. This will also allow Murphy to manage the number of innings Fouts pitches, keeping her arm fresh for critical games down the stretch.

Fouts led the Crimson Tide pitching staff in innings pitched with 181.2, followed by Cornell, who pitched 126. Fouts’ workload became even heavier when she was invited to try out for the USA Olympic Softball team during the offseason and pitched all the way into October. 

As a result, Fouts did not pitch a single inning for Alabama during the fall to make sure she is rested and healthy for the spring.

In 2020 the Crimson Tide will have the option to use its entire rotation throughout the regular season, which will help keep the entire staff fresh for the crucial games in April and May. 

SPEED KILLS

Senior center fielder Elissa Brown finished two stolen bases shy of her goal of 50 in 2019, but her 48 steals tied her for second in the NCAA.

Brown’s speed went a long way toward the Crimson Tide’s 142 total stolen bases, which was the fourth-highest in college softball, but now the team has added more with graduate transfer Alexis Mack from Oregon. Mack led the Ducks in stolen bases in 2018 as a junior with 24. 

Mack and Brown’s speed will allow the Crimson Tide to have more runners in scoring position. 

“I think Elissa and I both understand our role, and our role is to get on base any way we can,” Mack said. “Just kind of simplifying that anything I can do to put myself in scoring position for the big hitters like [senior utility player Bailey Hemphill] really helps me simplify and keep myself in the zone.”

With the addition of Mack, Team 24 will be able to get more runners in scoring positions for Hemphill, junior first baseman Kaylee Tow and sophomore second baseman Skylar Wallace to drive them home. That could lead to career numbers in both RBIs and stolen bases.

Murphy said that Alabama has six “green-light girls,” a group of players that have the ability to steal when they get on base. With six players that have the ability to advance 60 feet into scoring position, there’s more pressure on the opposing defense to make plays faster than they want. This can lead to more forced errors by opposing teams along with more runs for Alabama. 

SHORTSTOP

Senior Claire Jenkins’ season-ending injury was a huge loss for the Crimson Tide, as the team lost its defensive leader in the infield. 

To combat the loss, Alabama had three different players try their hand at short. The good news for the Crimson Tide is that all three players looked comfortable in that spot. Wallace did not play throughout the fall while trying out for USA Softball, which will allow Murphy to experiment  with the infield as he sees fit.

Freshman Savannah Woodard also looked comfortable in different positions in the infield, committing zero errors during the three games she played. Alabama also has an experienced infielder in senior Taylor Clark, who can play second base, shortstop and third base.

With questions lingering around who will start where in the Alabama infield, it will be intriguing to see who will fill the shortstop position at the Crimson Tide’s season-opening tournament on Feb. 7-8.