Alabama Softball Makes 2022 Home Debut Hosting Easton Bama Bash

This Week: Easton Bama Bash

No. 2 Alabama makes its home debut this weekend with five games at the Easton Bama Bash, playing Evansville once and Virginia Tech and Middle Tennessee twice each
With the Hokies coming in at No. 8 in this week's national polls, that will give the Crimson Tide three ranked matchups through the first two weeks of the season after last weekend's 11-0 victory over then-No. 9 Arizona
Alabama went 4-0 at last weekend's Candrea Classic in Tucson, Ariz., with wins over Southern Utah, Oregon State, Arizona and New Mexico
The Tide hit .366 as a team last weekend, blasting 10 home runs and outscoring its opponents 35-4
Freshman Megan Bloodworth leads the team with three home runs and seven RBIs, including a grand slam in her very first collegiate at-bat
Bloodworth was one of seven different players that hit a home run on opening weekend
All four pitchers got a start and a win over the weekend, allowing a combined four earned runs over 24.0 innings pitched with 33 strikeouts
Head Coach Patrick Murphy is in his 24th season as head coach at Alabama with a 1,153-320 (.783) record
Alabama returns 11 players from last year's team that made the Women's College World Series semifinals, including a pair of All-Americans in Montana Fouts and Kaylee Tow
The Tide welcomes nine newcomers, including three transfers and six freshmen

Alabama went 4-0 to open the 2022 season at the Candrea Classic in Tucson, Ariz.
The Tide opened with an 11-0 win over Southern Utah in five innings, helped by an eight-run first inning and five RBIs on a pair of home runs from Megan Bloodworth in her Alabama debut
A pair of Pac 12 opponents were on the schedule for Saturday, beginning with a 5-1 win over Oregon State before a decisive 11-0 victory over ninth-ranked Arizona that saw four different players hit a home run, including two from Ashley Prange
The Tide closed the weekend with an 8-3 win over New Mexico, highlighted by a 2-for-2 day with two RBI doubles from Dallis Goodnight and three RBIs from Kaylee Tow on a pair of singles

Alabama is now 98-22 all-time on opening weekend, losing just four games on opening weekend since 2011
The 10 home runs hit over last weekend's four games are tied for the most on opening weekend in program history, previously doing so over five games to start the 2011 season
Seven Alabama players have hit three home runs on opening weekend, but Megan Bloodworth is just the second freshman to do so

Three Home Runs on Opening Weekend

Alabama holds a 93-11 overall mark at the Easton Bama Bash, hosting the tournament every year but once since 1998
This year mark's Evansville's fourth appearance at the Bash, previously traveling to Tuscaloosa in 1999, 2002 and 2005
Virginia Tech is also a previous participant, appearing in 2014
Including this weekend's opponents, the Tide has welcomed 55 different teams to the Easton Bama Bash

Kaylee Tow is tied for 10th with 41 career doubles, three shy of ninth-place Dani Woods (2005-08)
Tow is also 8th in career walks with 132, just two away from tying Charlotte Morgan (2007-10)
Montana Fouts has 20 career shutouts, which ranks seventh and puts her one shy of tying Jaclyn Traina (2011-14)

Alabama sports a 659-119 (.847) all-time record at home, including a 623-103 (.858) mark under head coach Patrick Murphy and a 604-99 (.859) record at Rhoads Stadium, the Tide's home field since 2000
Since Rhoads Stadium opened in 2000, Alabama has won at least 25 home games in 18 of its 22 years there