No. 5/5 Alabama softball (36-7; 12-6 SEC) had its bye week from conference play, but the team didn’t take a break from facing a quality opponent, as it played host to the No. 13/18 Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. Alabama swept its two-game series opposite the Cajuns (35-9; 16-2 Sun Belt). 

GAME ONE:

A four-run first inning and an efficient pitching performance from junior Montana Fouts (15-3; 1.75 ERA) allowed the Crimson Tide to pull out a 5-3 win over the Ragin Cajuns Saturday afternoon. 

The Alabama offense tallied three extra base hits in the bottom half of the first frame, and the third proved to be the game winner. A three-run home run from sophomore Lexi Kilfoyl to give Alabama a quick 4-0 lead. The home run was Kilfoyl’s first of her Alabama career. 

“I just trusted in my fundamentals and tried to make it as simple as possible,” Kilfoyl said. “I had a plan and it worked in my favor.” 

The two other RBIs came from senior Kaylee Tow, with the second being the team’s final run of the game. Another hit from Sides extended her career best hitting streak to 10 games. 

In her sixth consecutive start in the circle, Fouts was able to pitch a double-digit strikeouts performance. All three of Louisiana’s runs came in the fifth inning and were ruled as earned, however, looked preventable due to a bobbled ball and a couple of “bad decisions” of where the ball was thrown in the infield, according to head coach Patrick Murphy. The bobbled ball and one of the “bad decisions” were ruled as hits, which made up half of the Ragin Cajuns’ hits on the day, and the other two hits were singles to left field. 

“It was a weird inning when they [Louisiana] scored their runs,” Murphy said. “[Louisiana] really didn’t hit her hard and she [Fouts] did a good job.”

GAME TWO: 

Alabama captured the sweep of Louisiana with a 5-1 win propelled by dominant efforts in the circle and from sophomore Savannah Woodard. 

The Crimson Tide offense was only able to collect four hits on the evening, half of which came from the state’s own Woodard. Woodard first hit was a single in the second inning and would come around to score to give Alabama the early 2-0 advantage. The sophomore’s second hit came the following inning as she sent a ball to the right center gap and mototed around the bases for an inside the park two-run home run. This marked only the program’s eighth inside-the-park home run and Woodard’s third of the year. 

“I was busting it out of the box, but I definitely did not think it was going to turn into an inside the park home run,” Woodard said. 

Senior Krystal Goodman (6-1; 1.91 ERA) found success against the Ragin Cajun bats as fellow-right hander Fouts did Saturday afternoon. Goodman gave up a lone run in her four innings pitched and held the opposition to a 1-for-5 day with runners in scoring position. 

“She was awesome and that was a great performance by her,” Murphy said. 

Fouts (15-3; 1.66 ERA) relieved Goodman due to Murphy wanting to see how she would fare pitching on back-to-back days. The junior did not skip a beat, retiring the final nine straight batters after giving up a lead off double to open up the fifth inning. Fouts rang up four batters and did not allot a free pass. 

“Wanted to see what Montana could do because it’s been awhile since she’s thrown back-to-back,” Murphy said. “Typically she’s [thrown] on Friday and Sunday.” 

The Crimson Tide will return to conference play next weekend against No. 22 Georgia in Athens, Georgia, Apr. 30–May 2.