Alabama Softball Opens SEC Play with Three-Game Road Series at Auburn

3/7/21 Alabama softball vs South Alabama Alabama's Montana Fouts (14) Photo by Evan Pilat

THIS WEEKEND: No. 4/4 ALABAMA (19-1) at No. 21/22 AUBURN (16-1)

SCOUTING ALABAMA

No. 4 Alabama heads into conference play with a 19-1 record, going 4-1 at last weekend’s T-Town Showdown in Tuscaloosa
The Crimson Tide is tied with Kentucky for the most wins of any SEC team
Alabama pitching leads the SEC with 172 strikeouts and has allowed the fewest walks with 16
Alabama is ranked No. 4 in this week’s NFCA and USA Softball polls
Alabama returns 17 players from last season, including all seven 2020 seniors, while adding five freshmen

ALL-TIME VS. AUBURN

LAST TIME OUT: T-TOWN SHOWDOWN

Alabama went 4-1 at last weekend’s T-Town Showdown at Rhoads Stadium, sweeping doubleheaders against Kent State and Northern Iowa before taking its first loss of the season Sunday against South Alabama
Three of the Crimson Tide’s four wins came in less than seven innings, outscoring its weekend opponents 33-8
Saturday’s game one win over UNI was head coach Patrick Murphy’s 600th home win at Alabama
Bailey Hemphill was named the T-Town Showdown MVP, going 8-for-15 (.533) with five runs scored and five RBIs
Alexis Mack also hit 8-for-15 (.533) from the leadoff spot, including a 3-for-3 mark in stolen bases
Savannah Woodard hit a grand slam to cap the Tide’s run-rule win against Northern Iowa, the first Alabama grand slam since May 19, 2019 against Arizona State in the NCAA Regional round

ALABAMA IN SEC PLAY

Alabama is 454-173 (.724) all-time in SEC play, including a 419-152 (.734) mark under head coach Patrick Murphy
The Crimson Tide has won six SEC regular season titles (2006, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’14, ’19) and five SEC Tournament titles (1998, 2003, ’05, ’10, ’12)
Alabama has never had a losing record in conference play, winning 20 or more conference games 11 times

SEC OPENING WEEKEND

Alabama is 54-20 (.730) all-time on SEC opening weekend, including a 35-5 (.875) record at home and 19-15 (.559) mark on the road
The Crimson Tide has won 17 out of its 24 opening SEC series, winning all 13 of its home series and either falling or splitting in seven of its 11 road series
Alabama and Auburn have met twice on the league’s opening weekend, with the Tide winning a pair of games in Tuscaloosa in 2011 and the Tigers taking two of three on the Plains in 2018

PITCHING POWER

The Alabama bullpen has been dominant so far this season, owning a 1.02 team ERA with just 19 earned runs allowed over 130.0 innings pitched
Tide pitchers have struck out 172 batters as opposed to just 16 walks
Opponents are only hitting 6-for-72 (.083) with runners in scoring position, striking out 25 times
Alabama leads the SEC in strikeouts (172), wins (19) and fewest walks allowed (16) and is second in ERA (1.02) and opposing batting average (.141)
Montana Fouts and Lexi Kilfoyl are both ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in strikeouts with 89 (2nd) and 50 (8th), respectively, and Kilfoyl leads the league with a 0.16 ERA
Alabama is second nationally with nine shutouts and sixth in team ERA
Fouts leads the NCAA in strikeout-to-walk ratio while Kilfoyl is ninth
Fouts also is ranked sixth in strikeouts and eighth in strikeouts per seven innings
Alabama is the only team with two pitchers with seven wins

ANSWERING BACK

In the 15 innings opponents have scored against Alabama, the Crimson Tide has responded immediately with at least one run in the next half-inning 10 times
In the 10 response innings, Alabama has equaled its opponent’s run output three times and has surpassed it five times

TWO OUTS, SO WHAT?

The Tide offense has been a tough third out to say the least, hitting 50-for-164 (.305) with two outs
54 of the team’s 104 RBIs this season have come with two outs
Bailey Dowling has seen the most at-bats with two out this season, going 9-for-27 (.333) with 13 RBIs, four doubles and three home runs

HEMPHILL CLOSING IN ON UA CAREER HOME RUN AND WALKS RECORDS, 200 RBIS

Senior Bailey Hemphill’s 52 career home runs ranks fifth all-time and sits eight behind Kelly Kretschman’s (1998-2001) career record of 60
She is the fifth player in program history to reach the 50 home run mark, the first since Kaila Hunt (2011-14)
Hemphill hit nine home runs her freshman season, improved to 13 as a sophomore and tied the UA single-season record in 2019 with 26
Her power potential also leads to a lot of teams pitching carefully to the slugger, as she has drawn 191 career walks, which is eight away from Haylie McCleney’s (2013-16) record total of 199
Hemphill also owns 197 career RBIs, putting her within striking distance of becoming the third Alabama player with 200 RBIs
Charlotte Morgan (2007-10) owns the UA record with 264 career RBIs and Kaila Hunt (2011-14) is the only other player to surpass 200, finishing her four years with 215

ALABAMA TO APPEAR 12 MORE TIMES ON ESPN FAMILY OF NETWORKS

Twelve games on Alabama softball’s 2021 schedule are slated to be televised on the ESPN family of networks this season
Alabama will serve as host of the 2021 SEC Softball Tournament, which will again be broadcast live across the ESPN family of networks.
All Crimson Tide home games and select road contests will also be available to stream online via the SEC Network+ digital platform, available at WatchESPN.com or on the ESPN app
Links to watch online will be posted on the softball schedule page at RollTide.com and on Alabama softball social media platforms

2021 Alabama Softball TV Schedule

UP NEXT – WEEK SIX