Crimson Tide Softball Announces 2003 Schedule
9/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Following a season when the University of Alabama softball team played the fifth toughest schedule in the country, Alabama Head Coach Patrick Murphy has decided to go down the same path as the Tide announced its 2003 softball schedule which includes 27 games against 2002 NCAA tournament teams.
In addition to the always rigorous conference slate, Alabama will be participating in four high-profile tournaments while also playing four games against three NCAA tournament teams in the non-conference portion of the schedule.
“This year the NCAA tournament field goes from 48 to 64 and one of the deciding factors for at-large teams will be strength of schedule,” said Murphy. “We tried to schedule tough because we want to be able to gauge where this team is with regards to the top teams in the nation.”
The Tide will open the 2003 season participating in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial in Los Angeles against the likes of UCLA, CS-Fullerton and Loyola. Including the Tide, the tournament will feature two #1 seeds and a #2 seed from last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Following the trip out West, Alabama will then travel to Miami to participate in the Fun in the Sun Classic along with Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Ohio State. FAU was the #1 seed in the Tide’s NCAA Regional tournament last season while Ohio State was a #2 seed in their respective NCAA Regional.
Alabama will return home to host the 2003 Bama Bash! before hitting the road again to play in the prestigious NFCA Leadoff Classic followed by the Crimson Classic.
“For whatever reason the Crimson Classic has become the stronger tournament of the two (Bama Bash!) in recent years,” said Murphy. “Penn State has been to the NCAA tournament two of the last three years while Kansas is an up and coming team in the Big 12. Texas-Arlington was a solid team last year that is bringing in some very good freshmen from the Dallas area.”
Alabama will then open the conference portion of the schedule, but will find some interesting non-conference games mixed in. Prior to the always tough LSU series, Alabama will play a one-game affair in Lafayette, Louisiana against perennial powerhouse Louisiana-Lafayette.
“We always try and go where our players are from so they can play in front of friends and family,” said Murphy. “The ULL game will be a sort of homecoming for Lacy (Prejean), (assistant coach) Alyson (Habetz) and myself. And it’s always a big party atmosphere at their games, so it will be a good time.”
Alabama will close out the regular season with three interesting non-conference games as the Tide will host Chattanooga for one game and Georgia Tech in a doubleheader, both of whom were in the same NCAA Regional as Bama last year.
Georgia Tech was one win from making their first ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series last season, while the Lady Mocs of Chattanooga won two games in last year’s NCAA tournament, both victories coming against top-seeded Florida Atlantic.
Tide fans will get their first look at this year’s team on October 12, when Alabama hosts the Alabama Fall Ball, an all-day tournament featuring the Tide, Northwest Shoals CC, Shelton State CC and Wallace-Dothan CC.
