Half an hour prior to the first pitch in Alabama’s final game of the Easton Bama Bash on Sunday afternoon, Lexi Kilfoyl stands along the third-base line dancing while she warms up her arm. 

As she grooves along to “High Hopes” by Panic! at the Disco in middle-left field, she effortlessly throws a dart to fellow pitcher, senior Sarah Cornell. The ball is on target to the point where Cornell does not have to move her glove as she stands 200 feet away from Kilfoyl out in center field.

The laid-back freshman seems like just another player while she dances and warms up – not a pitcher who was ranked the No. 2 overall recruit by Extra Innings Softball.

“She’s really cool, really good demeanor,” coach Patrick Murphy said. “She reminds me a little bit of Alexis Osorio – nothing bothers her. She’s very even-keeled. She doesn’t get too high, too low.”

Kilfoyl’s composed mentality has been on display in her first two weeks with the Crimson Tide. In the second start of her collegiate career, Kilfoyl faced the then-No. 1 Washington Huskies. 

Kilfoyl threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit and two walks and striking out six against a Huskies team that carries a .356 team batting average, the fourth-highest in the nation. That calmness is maintained even when things aren’t rolling for the freshman. 

After allowing one walk through two innings, Wichita State’s Kaylee Huecker sent a solo home run over the left-field wall, the fourth home run allowed by Kilfoyl this season. The Shockers would tally another run later in the inning, but the Land O’ Lakes, Florida, native responded by retiring seven of the next eight batters she faced.

“It definitely was a huge stage going out there,” Kilfoyl said after her appearance against the Huskies. “I had to mentally prepare myself a bunch for that for sure, but I went out there, I just trusted all my stuff, trusted my teammates behind my back, and we got it done.”

Coming into her home debut, Kilfoyl was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for her performance at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational in Clearwater, Florida. Alabama has collected 24 Freshman of the Week awards in program history, with fellow pitcher, sophomore Montana Fouts, as the last recipient for the Crimson Tide.

“She’s very calm and collected, and I know that she works hard,” Fouts said. “Just seeing her go out and just attack the zone – I mean, it’s cold outside, it’s easy to get behind, and our first game of the tournament, but she went out and I’m proud of her.”

Kilfoyl’s consistency and ability stood out to Murphy when he saw her pitch at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

Murphy recalls seeing her pitch on the baseball field where the Atlanta Braves host their spring training and said that it was like she was pitching with a Wiffle ball because of the movement on her pitches. He noticed the curve despite sitting at least 50 feet further away from the plate than he would have been at a softball field. 

“That ball was moving,” Murphy said. “We came back and she threw again, and then finally at the weekend I was like, ‘That’s the one we want.’ She made batters look really bad. She’s got a really good changeup, drop, curve. She’s working on a rise – a little [inside], throw some [outside]. 

“But when she hit her spots, it was tough to hit, and with a good drop ball like [pitching coach Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro’s] when she pitched here. You cannot lift it. If it’s going down, you cannot get under it. So it’s going to be a rollover.”