Alyson Habetz Selected to 2016 Louisiana Softball Hall of Fame Class
9/29/2016 10:49:00 AM | Softball
HAMMOND, La. – Alabama associate head coach Alyson Habetz is one of 12 inductees selected to this year's Louisiana Softball Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremony is slated for Oct. 29 at the New Orleans Airport-Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Habetz, a native of Crowley, La., is in her 19th season with the Crimson Tide softball program. She arrived in Tuscaloosa in the fall of 1998 as an assistant for then-first year head coach Patrick Murphy. After eight successful seasons as an assistant coach, Habetz was promoted to associate head coach in 2007 and has served in that role ever since. Over her time in Tuscaloosa, she has helped guide the team to 11 Women's College World Series appearances, including a 2012 national championship, 10 SEC regular season and tournament titles and has overseen a large contingent of All-American outfielders, including four-time winners Kelly Kretschman (1998-2001), Brittany Rogers (2006-09) and Haylie McCleney (2013-16).
Prior to her time at Alabama, Habetz was a pioneer for the sport of softball and for women's athletics at large in the state of Louisiana. She became the first female in the state to play high school baseball, following a two-year court battle to earn the opportunity, and was an All-District first baseman and pitcher at Notre Dame High School. She was a two-sport athlete at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now Louisiana-Lafayette, playing basketball and softball. She was an All-American with the Ragin' Cajun softball team that made an appearance at the 1993 Women's College World Series but also ended her basketball career ranked seventh on the Cajuns' all-time scoring list.
Following her graduation, Habetz enjoyed a four-year career in women's professional baseball with the Colorado Silver Bullets and the Long Beach Aces but ultimately chose to join her former assistant coach at USL, Patrick Murphy, at a young University of Alabama softball program in its third year of existence in the fall of 1998.
Habetz has previously been inducted into the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Louisiana High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
2016 LOUISIANA SOFTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS
- Yvette Girouard – Coach
- Michael & Stefni Lotief – Co-Coaches
- Alyson Habetz – Coach
- Joseph Brignac – Coach
- Candice Carnahan Jackson – Player
- Marcus Fontenot – Player
- Rickey Latiolais – Player
- Ted L Perrodin – Player
- J. Rogers Pope – Player
- Durand "Rudy" Macklin – Meritorious Service
- Ernest Palmisoino, Jr. – Meritorious Service
