Someone has to lose on senior day. Someone’s seniors have to go home with a loss on the last regular-season game of the season. Despite putting together a rally in the bottom of the seventh, No. 4 Alabama...

While thousands of students walk across a stage in Coleman Coliseum during graduation on Friday and Saturday, No. 4 Alabama softball will take on No. 15 Georgia in a three-game series. Four players on...

No. 4 Alabama softball’s three- and four-hole hitters won’t say they’re competing with each other. Both senior first baseman Leona Lafaele and freshman catcher Reagan Dykes hit a home run in Alabama’s...

Chandler Dare went 2 for 4 with four RBIs as No. 4 Alabama softball beat No. 11 Kentucky 7-1 to even the series. The junior utility player singled in two runs in the bottom of the fourth and another two...

Senior infielder Leona Lafaele isn’t have much trouble seeing the ball. In her first at-bat Wednesday night, she crushed a two-run home run just fair in No. 4 Alabama softball’s 4-2 win over South...

Chandler Dare has never played softball in College Station, Texas. The last time Alabama played Texas A&M in Texas, it was 2013, and Dare was still in high school at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa.“We’re...

Marisa Runyon jogged out after hitting the ball and watched it sail past the foul pole in right field. She was hoping it was fair. It was, just crossing left of No. 4 Alabama softball’s sign with “two...

Marisa Runyon was in a slump. She hadn’t hit the ball against an SEC opponent since the first game of the Florida series. With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning Sunday, Runyon hit a...

Sydney Booker drove in five runs in No. 4 Alabama softball’s 8-0 mercy-rule win over Mississippi State. The sophomore transfer went 2-4 with an RBI single and a three-run home run in the win. It was...

Sydney Littlejohn has her role down. She didn’t need her best performance--she allowed seven hits and a run--but it was enough in No. 4 Alabama softball’s 7-1 win over Mississippi State on Friday...

With the bases loaded and one out, down 1-0 at South Alabama last spring, Alabama coach Patrick Murphy called on an unknown, freshman pitcher to work out of the jam.It was the first game of the season....

Twenty years after the program started, Alabama softball notched its 1,000th win. It only needed five innings to do it in the 14-0 win over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday. Alabama averages more than...

On Friday, No. 6 Alabama softball leaned on junior right-hander Sydney Littlejohn to deliver. She did. On Sunday, the team needed her again. She pitched seven shutout innings in the 3-0 win to beat No....

Friday was a good day to be named Sydney. Junior right-hander Sydney Littlejohn (13-2) controlled the game while sophomore transfer Sydney Booker gave her some needed defensive support at shortstop in...

No. 6 Alabama softball found a weakness in No. 16 Missouri’s game and had a day with it. The first three Alabama batters reached on first-pitch bunt singles. Then came the walks in the 16-2 mercy-rule...

After dropping the first game of its doubleheader against No. 16 Missouri on Saturday 7-3, No. 6 Alabama softball bounced back to a 9-1 mercy-rule win to even the series. Junior Marisa “Home” Runyon...

It’s not unusual to find Chandler Dare at Rhoads Stadium taking ground balls in the infield when the team’s not there or spending time in the batting cages attached to the clubhouse before practice...

BATON ROUGE, La. — For the first time in two years, No. 6 Alabama doesn’t have its starting second baseman.Demi Turner, who went 1-3 on the night, was caught stealing second for the third out of a...

Andrea Hawkins has two families. They don’t often intersect, and when they do, it’s in the spring during softball season.In October, when Hawkins was with her family in Bay City, Texas, after her father...

Last weekend, No. 4 Alabama softball needed a walk-off to win its first game of the tournament. On Friday night, the Crimson Tide avoided the drama and took two games by way of the mercy rule, first an...

Sunday wasn’t right-hander Alexis Osorio’s best game. The sophomore pitched seven innings, gave up nine hits and allowed five runs. She also struck out nine en route to her fifth win of the season...

The last time Peyton Grantham hit a home run in Rhoads Stadium it was the 2014 Super Regional against Nebraska. The 12-inning game went into the early hours of the morning before Grantham ended it on a...

There’s a subtle shift in the mood in a dugout, in a crowd, when the unspeakable is happening. The air is different. There’s a cautiousness that pervades a normally casual, friendly environment. No...

No. 5 Alabama softball took both games on Saturday after dropping the Friday nightcap. The Crimson Tide beat Rutgers 6-0 before edging out No. 19 James Madison 2-1 on a walk-off single.In the first game,...

For the sixth straight year, Alabama softball opened its season with a win. After downing Fordham 9-1 in five innings, No. 5 Alabama dropped its next game, a 8-1 decision to No. 17 UCF in the UCF Classic.In...

Haylie McCleney has the best view in Rhoads Stadium. From her perch in center field, the senior can see everything on the field. She spies pitches and batters’ tendencies. She knows how the ball moves...

For much of the season, Alabama’s defense was heralded as the second coming of the 2009 championship team. It was the best in the country. Teams couldn’t run the ball against it, and its passing games...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — By now, Kirby Smart has traded in crimson for red and black. The former defensive coordinator for Alabama officially took over as the head coach of Georgia after a 45-40 win over Clemson...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The ball only had to go 10 yards.Ten players had to be behind Adam Griffith before he chipped the ball. If any one of them was ahead of the ball, there would’ve been a flag: offsides.Defensive...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Bend, don’t break. It’s not the Alabama way, with defenses stifling teams at the line of scrimmage and blanketing receivers in coverage. That was the Crimson Tide defense against...

By Kelly Ward | Digital Managing EditorGLENDALE, Ariz. — At some point, the confetti will be cleared from the field and the cigar smoke scrubbed from the locker room. For now, the confetti litters University...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alabama won the CFP Championship by a score of 45-40 on Jan. 11, 2016 in front of a crowd of 75,765.Derrick Henry struck first with a 50-yard score. It was his 20th consecutive game...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Freshmen walk on to Alabama’s campus with big eyes and big stomachs. College is a place to grow and blossom.The freshmen who enter into the Mal Moore Athletic Facility to begin...

PHOENIX — All Dillon Lee did was secure the shutout. His one-handed interception late in the 38-0 rout of No. 3 Michigan State in the College Football Playoff semifinal kept the Spartans from a late...

PHOENIX — No, it hasn’t hit him yet. It might not hit him until he puts his helmet on in the tunnel or walks out to the sideline. It might not hit him until the confetti comes down - win or lose -...

Two days before No. 2 Alabama flies out to Phoenix for the College Football Playoff national championship game, coach Nick Saban held his final press conference in Tuscaloosa.He stressed the importance...

ARLINGTON, Texas — The dry erase board in the Alabama locker room had four times listed on the dry erase board. Three were for warmups. The fourth had kickoff for the Crimson Tide against Michigan State...

DALLAS — Nine hours from the familiarity of Tuscaloosa is a sprawling metropolis–more of a collection of a dozen cities than one. The drive west on I-20 is long, often boring, seemingly never-ending.For...

DALLAS — The two teams meeting in the Cotton Bowl on Thursday haven’t played in three weeks. Both Alabama and Michigan State won their respective conference championship games and endured more than...

DALLAS — Michigan State isn’t flashy. It doesn’t do neat little tricks and run a hurry-up like other teams. It’s fundamentally sound in all phases of the game and dares you to beat it.Alabama will...

DALLAS — Michigan State hasn’t won a national title since 1966. It’s two wins away from taking home the hardware.A national title would mean everything to the Spartans.Just ask Alabama coach Nick...

DALLAS — Mark Dantonio joked and Nick Saban smiled.Dantonio thinks Saban is funny too, although he can’t remember any specific instances of hilarity.“We're talking about 15 years in the past,”...

DALLAS — Anchored by players like A'Shawn Robinson, Alabama’s defensive line is intimidating enough that defensive coordinator Kirby Smart joked that the line was the reason he stayed at Alabama through...

DALLAS — On the field, Reggie Ragland surveys with an experienced eye. He commands the defense. Alabama's defense relies on the veteran linebacker to call out what adjustments it needs to make. He...

DALLAS — It’s hard to miss A’Shawn Robinson or Jarran Reed walking around. Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook certainly didn’t as he passed by the Alabama defensive linemen on his way into...

DALLAS — Before offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin came to Alabama after the 2013 season, people didn’t use no-huddle to describe the Crimson Tide offense. Hurry-up wasn’t even in the conversation.Now...

DALLAS — Before Kenyan Drake broke his arm on a kickoff return at Mississippi State, he was hurt. Cracked rib against Ole Miss, sprained ankle, concussion after LSU and contusions among some of the pains.“It’s...

DALLAS — Shilique Calhoun is happier about the way 2015 is ending than how it started. Don’t get the Michigan State defensive end wrong–he enjoyed beating Baylor in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, but...

DALLAS — The day after Christmas, Alabama football was back to work, this time 600 miles west of Tuscaloosa.Alabama coach Nick Saban said he enjoyed the time he spent with his family over the holiday....

DALLAS — With the storms that made their way through Alabama on Friday, some people had trouble getting out of the state as roads were flooded from the rain.Alabama football didn’t have any issues...

ATLANTA — Derrick Henry got any last minute resume fillers for his Heisman campaign he needed with 189 yards rushing in No. 2 Alabama’s 29-15 win over No. 18 Florida in the SEC Championship Game.He...

If you have any questions about Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s reported hire by Georgia, you can address them to the Coca-Cola bottle on the podium in the media room in Mal Moore.Alabama...

AUBURN — Adam Griffith couldn’t see over his line when he prepped for a 50-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds left in the first half. He couldn’t see the Auburn return man, ready to try to...

Senior Michael Nysewander remembers a time where football coach Nick Saban didn’t know his name.When he got to campus his freshman year, he was a walk-on. He set some goals for himself. The first was...

STARKVILLE, Miss. — For nearly 20 minutes, No. 2 Alabama couldn’t find the end zone. On offense, it couldn’t find much of anything after a 34-yard first quarter.Then cornerback Cyrus Jones broke...

Lighters went up and puffs of smoke erupted from Bryant-Denny Stadium as soon as A’Shawn Robinson scooped up the fumble Ryan Anderson forced and returned it nine yards to the Tennessee 4-yard line.The...

There’s really only so much a defense can do when 12 yards separate its opponent from the end zone.That's the situation Alabama's defense faced late in the second quarter of the 27-14 win on Saturday.Arkansas...

ATHENS, Ga. — On Monday, Alabama wasn’t supposed to beat Georgia. After a 72 game streak, the Crimson Tide opened as an underdog to the Bulldogs.At halftime on Saturday, when Alabama led 24-3, the...

ATHENS, Ga. — Maybe a downpour was all No. 13 Alabama needed to figure out its game. When the sky opened up and the downpour came to Sanford Stadium, so did the Crimson Tide in a 38-10 win over No....

Madi Moore isn’t going to have it easy when she scrimmages against her teammates on the Alabama softball team.They will repay the favor done to them by pitchers like Jaclyn Traina, who led the team to...

Alabama’s offense sputtered early before finding some consistency in the 34-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. Four games into the season, the offense hasn’t quite found its identity.“I was...

Following Saturday’s 43-37 loss to Ole Miss, Alabama coach Nick Saban addressed what he liked and what he didn’t during his weekly Monday press conference.He liked the effort he saw from his players....

BIRMINGHAM — In its fourth appearance at Legion Field, the U.S. Women’s National Team gave the 35,753 fans in attendance a show in an 8-0 rout of Haiti.The crowd was a record for a USWNT match in the...

At first, the crowd was loud, the stadium shaking. After the opening kickoff and subsequent fumble by Alabama, the crowd quieted.The trend continued throughout the night as No. 2 Alabama toyed with a comeback...

ARLINGTON, Texas — Give the ball to Derrick Henry and watch him run. All No. 20 Wisconsin could do was watch, as the junior running back worked his way to 147 yards rushing on 13 carries in No. 3 Alabama’s...

Somehow — between the demands of fall camp and football season, the demands of his position, perhaps the most demanding in the state — Nick Saban has time. Time to help, time to work with other coaches...

Alabama football hosted its first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium. There were no stats provided from the closed scrimmage.Following the scrimmage, head coach Nick Saban...

HOOVER — The year has been a long one for Alabama running back 
Kenyan Drake.After ending his season with a leg injury at Ole Miss early October, Drake spent his offseason working on getting back to...

HOOVER — LSU’s 8-5 season was not up to standards.Head coach Les Miles said there were a number of factors involved in the year, including youth at quarterback and losing valuable juniors. Every year,...

HOOVER — While Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema made comments about the Razorbacks’ win over Texas in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl that went viral Wednesday at SEC Media Days, he kept his speech tamer...

HOOVER — Ole Miss was a different team without wide receiver Laquon Treadwell.Treadwell suffered a season-ending injury in the final minutes of Ole Miss’ 35-31 loss to Auburn. He broke his leg as he...

By Kelly Ward | Digital Managing EditorEvery year, the first day of class marks the end of fall camp for Alabama football. This year, it cuts fall camp about a week short due to the season starting the...

HOOVER — SEC Media Days had a different look this year. For the first time since 2002, Mike Slive did not open the event. Greg Sankey, the new conference commissioner, represents a new era in the SEC.He...

HOOVER — Last season, Texas A&M was far from the team that produced a Heisman-winning quarterback. The 2014 squad began 5-0 before losing three consecutively, including a 59-0 loss to Alabama.This year,...

HOOVER — The Mississippi State head coach, Dan Mullen, walked in wearing a suit, a tie and a pair of Yeezy Boost 350 shoes by Adidas on Tuesday at SEC Media Days.“I’ve got a little sock game going...

HOOVER — Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III rarely gets beat. He’s not very talkative; he prefers to speak with his play, not unlike former Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper.Lining up against...

The first night Stuart Bell and his wife Susan were in Tuscaloosa, they had a late dinner before deciding to walk around the campus. The two made their way to the Quad where they saw two or three groups...