Alabama Softball Holds First Team Practice of the Season Sunday
9/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama softball held its first team practice of the season on Sunday at Rhoads Stadium as the Crimson Tide begin its preparation for the fall schedule and the 2016 season.
"Our newcomers are excited and ready to be out here and I think that excitement rubs off on everyone else," said Head Coach Patrick Murphy. "That first-time excitement is really cool to see."
The team focused on fundamentals to start the day, working on proper throwing techniques as a group before splitting into separate defensive groups. The infielders and pitchers worked on defensive drills on the field, while the outfielders and catchers headed indoors for more throwing and defensive work.
"We'll do two weeks of fundamental practices before we head up to Middle Tennessee," said Murphy. "We don't get to play Division I opponents in the fall very often so it will be a good opportunity."
The team begins its fall schedule on Oct. 4 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., with a doubleheader against Middle Tennessee State beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT. Alabama will return home for three more fall dates, facing Western Kentucky (11 a.m.) and Mobile (3 p.m.) on Saturday, Oct. 17, West Alabama (1:30 p.m. DH) on Sunday, Oct. 18 and Shorter College (1:30 p.m. DH) on Sunday, Oct. 25.
The 2016 team welcomes back 12 returning players from last season as well as seven newcomers. Alabama returns all four of its All-Americans from last season: senior Haylie McCleney, junior Marisa Runyon and sophomores Alexis Osorio and Demi Turner. All four were also named All-SEC, with Osorio being named the SEC Freshman of the Year and finishing as one of three finalists for the NFCA Freshman of the Year award. Alabama finished last season ranked sixth nationally, marking the team's 11th-straight top ten finish in the national polls.
"With the seven new kids, they have to learn a lot about the execution, plays, team offense and team defense, signals and all the little things that go into playing softball. We're going to try and take it slow, maybe do one thing at a time, and the days we do weights we'll just focus on running and hitting."
This season also marks the program's 20th anniversary, as Alabama first took the field in the spring of 1997. The Tide have quickly risen to one of the premiere programs in the country, making 17-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, 10 Women's College World Series appearances and winning the SEC's first softball national title in 2012. Alabama is the perennial leader in home attendance as well, as the Tide have topped the 90,000 mark in three of the last four seasons at Rhoads Stadium.
"We have two alumni weekends planned this year," said Murphy. "One during the Tennessee football weekend (Oct. 24) and one during the Kentucky softball series (April 22-24). We did that because a lot of our former players coach softball so it's hard for them to come in the spring, so we gave them the option of coming in the fall. We have a cool throwback uniform planned, we have a 20th anniversary logo already and it's all going to be a lot of fun."
