Alabama softball's Patrick Murphy is wearing a postseason grin for good reason | Goodbread
They're back.
With all their flaws and scoring woes.
With their 17 losses, their .257 team batting average that's not in the NCAA's top 200, and their 4.21 runs scored per game, which ranks 151st. Alabama softball is back in Super Regional play with all that, plus the sly grin of a program that's nevertheless steeped in postseason experience.
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Coach Patrick Murphy wore that grin after his team beat Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday, 12-2, to claim UA's NCAA-record 18th Super Regional berth. And it hadn't really left his face on Wednesday as the team boarded a bus at Rhoads Stadium bound for Knoxville, Tenn. Regular-season struggles aside, it's not lost on Murphy that his is one of 16 teams still standing. The best-of-three tournament begins at 4 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN2).
"We have no pressure on us. We're (seeded No.) 14, they're 3. They're at home," Murphy said. "I like being the underdog."
Underdog, capital U.
Alabama faces a Tennessee team that blazed through the season at 43-10 with a dominant pitching tandem and fearsome power in its batting order. The Vols rank fifth in the NCAA in home runs per game at 1.55. UT won the SEC regular-season title with a 19-5 conference mark, and as if the Crimson Tide needed a reminder, it was dispatched by Tennessee in Game 1 of last year's Women's College World Series, 10-5.
"They do hit a lot of home runs. That's the biggest worry for me," Murphy added. "We've got to keep the ball in the park, and we've got to make them work on defense."
The Crimson Tide has reached the WCWS doorstep in far less dominant fashion, on the heels of its first losing season in SEC play in program history (10-14). Solid pitching has carried Alabama all season, making the difference for a lineup that's struggled to hit with any consistency. Pitching will remain at a premium against a Tennessee team that has four players with 10 or more home runs. UA has nobody with more than six.
Nevertheless, an Alabama team that won one SEC series all season is now one series win away from reaching the WCWS. It travels to Knoxville feeling better about a normally sleepy offense after exploding for 18 runs over its last two games in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
Murphy has likened this season to those of the Alabama football and men's basketball teams this academic year, as both had rocky starts that foreshadowed little if any hope of a championship. Nick Saban's last football team went on to win an SEC title, while the UA basketball team reached the first Final Four in program history.
Murphy can't help but wonder if the best is to come late for his team, as well.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama softball coach Murphy wearing postseason grin for good reason
