The No. 3 Alabama softball team is preparing for this weekend’s matchup against the University of Florida. After the Crimson Tide swept its four games last week against Mississippi State and Troy, Alabama hopes to continue their domination in the SEC (15-4).
After a full week of preparing for the Gators, the Tide will fly to Gainesville this week, accompanied by the Alabama baseball team. Earlier in the year, softball head coach Patrick Murphy met with baseball head coach Mitch Gaspard about both teams playing Florida the same weekend. This will be the first time the teams have chartered a plane together, in the hopes of unifying both teams.
“It’s just an even bigger support system,” senior, Whitney Larsen said. “Their coach and players support us just as much as we support them. We’ve never really done this before, so I just hope that we can come home with six wins over the weekend.”
Over the last week, the softball taem batted .361, hit eight home runs and drove in 24 runs. The Tide also out-scored its opponents 29-9.
“Everybody’s starting to feel a little better about themselves,” said head coach Patrick Murphy. “I think just the more you play, the better you’ll get in confidence. Florida’s going to be chomping at the bit; its two top-10 teams basically playing for an SEC Championship. We’re just going to play Alabama softball and do what we need to do.”
Alabama’s offense isn’t their only advantage against the Gators. Last week, the Alabama pitchers held their opposition to a .170 average. They also had a 1.81 ERA and struck out 35 batters in 27 innings.
Freshman pitcher Jackie Traina, continues to improve in the batter’s box. Last week she held a .545 average. Junior utility player Amanda Locke hit .538, slugged .846, belted a home run and had four RBIs.
Murphy has continued to switch up the lineup throughout the season, giving almost all of the players on the team experience in tough scenarios. His strategy is to improve the team’s depth and have the them ready in case of some unexpected injuries.
“It’s good for the overall depth of the team to see what everyone can do in a pressure situation, not when its 13-0,” Murphy said. “We can both get a hit when it’s 13-0 but can you get a hit when its 5-5 and there’s two outs when we really need it? We need to not worry about what the other team does, but control the controllables.”
Gators senior outfielder Kelsey Bruder was named this week’s SEC Player of the Week following their sweep at Auburn. Bruder hit three home runs in the series, one in each of the games against Auburn. Alabama prepares for a hostile crowd in Gainesville.
“It makes the atmosphere a little tougher playing away,” Larsen said. “But it’s how all the SEC games are. It’s just a tough crowd. You have a couple thousand against you, but it’s a fun rivalry and fun atmosphere to play in. We know that Florida’s a difficult opponent, and we have to prepare to bring our ‘A’ game every time. It’s always a tough series with Florida.”
The first game of the series in Gainesville starts Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. game Saturday and a noon game on Sunday.
