Tide Softball Heads to Athens for SEC Tournament
5/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
With the regular season behind them, the fourth-ranked Alabama softball team (48-8) is set to begin its "second season" on Thursday at the SEC Tournament in Athens, Georgia.
The Crimson Tide begins what it hopes will be a lengthy post-season run on Thursday when they take on the eighth seeded Ole Miss Rebels in the first round of the 2006 SEC Tournament.
"We tell everybody that it's a clean slate," said head coach Patrick Murphy. "Whatever they've done good, bad or ugly is over and they can start brand new Thursday afternoon and hopefully it'll last a whole month."
Alabama enters the SEC Tournament as the top seed for the first time ever, after having won its first SEC Championship. However, the thing that will take a little more getting used to will be the new tournament format. Unlike in years past where the tournament was a double-elimination, four-day affair, this year features a single-elimination format that will take place over three days.
"I think it's going to be a different feeling to the tournament because now it takes only three games to win the championship instead of the possible five if you fell into the loser's bracket and then had to fight your way out. For us, there's a little more sense that if we do things right quickly we could be the champions of the tournament as well."
Murphy said that he thinks his team will have an advantage with the new format because of the depth of his pitching staff.
"I trust all the pitchers. I don't think we'd have any reservations of putting any one out there. If you throw the same kid back-to-back-to-back it could take a toll on her, but we have a pitching staff where we can mix and match and not have any drop off."
And if there's one thing the Tide has done right in the past it's meet with success in the SEC Tournament. Alabama has won three conference tournament titles, which is second most in the league, including two of the last three.
Despite only being in existence for nine years, the SEC Tournament has quickly turned into one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country. Eight of Alabama's last nine games have come against ranked teams and 10 of its last 13 games.
This season, the field features five ranked teams including, No. 4 Alabama, No. 10 Georgia, No. 11 LSU and No. 24 Auburn, and Florida who is receiving votes. Also included among the eight teams are Arkansas, who's making their first post-season appearance since 2002, and Ole Miss who is making their first ever post-season appearance ever.
"I think it's good for the conference that Ole Miss and Arkansas are in," said Murphy. "Arkansas has beaten LSU and Georgia, so they could get on a roll and win it, as could Ole Miss; they're both in this tournament for a reason."
The tournament will kickoff on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET with No. 5 seed Florida taking on No. 4 seed Tennessee. Alabama, the top seed, will take on No. 8 seed Ole Miss at 2:30 p.m. ET. The second seed and host Georgia Bulldogs will take on No. 7 Arkansas at 5:00 p.m. ET and No. 3 LSU and No. 6 Auburn will close out the first round at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Fans can follow all the action at www.rolltide.com where live stats and audio will be available. In the Tuscaloosa area, fans can tune into WVUA 90.7 FM where Nic Hoch will call all the balls and strikes.
