Alabama Heads to Gainesville for 2022 SEC Softball Tournament

Thursday, May 12

Gainesville, Fla.

1:30 p.m. CT

Alabama

Missouri

Photo by: Kent Gidley

5/10/2022 1:49:00 PM | Softball

The Crimson Tide opens play Thursday as the No. 2 seed

This WeeK: 2022 SEC Softball Tournament

Alabama opens postseason play this week at the 2022 SEC Softball Tournament in Gainesville, Fla.
The Crimson Tide earned the No. 2 seed, earning a first-round bye before playing Thursday, May 12 at 1:30 p.m. CT live on the SEC Network against the winner of Wednesday's game between Missouri and Auburn
Alabama finished the regular season with a 41-10 overall record and 16-8 mark in conference play after taking two of three games last weekend against Missouri
The Tide won six of its eight SEC series this season, including all four in Tuscaloosa
Tide pitching has allowed the fewest hits (257), runs (128), earned runs (108), doubles (29) and home runs (24) of any SEC team
Montana Fouts leads the SEC with 150 strikeouts in conference play, which is 60 more than the next leading pitcher
Head Coach Patrick Murphy is in his 24th season as head coach at Alabama with a 1,190-330 (.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 in 2022, including three transfers and six freshmen

Alabama has played in every SEC Tournament since the program's inception in 1997, with this season being its 26th
The Tide owns a 44-26 (.629) all-time record at the SEC Tournament, including a 40-23 (.635) mark under head coach Patrick Murphy
Alabama has won six SEC Tournament titles, previously doing so in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2012 and 2021
The Tide's 2005 title came in Gainesville, Fla., the only previous tournament hosted by the Gators
Alabama players have taken home 42 SEC All-Tournament accolades, including Tournament MVP honors for Stephanie VanBrakle (2005), Kelsi Dunne (2010), Jackie Traina (2012) and Montana Fouts (2022)

vs. Arkansas: 5-1 (last meeting: May 10, 2017 - W, 4-1)
vs. Auburn: 6-3 (last meeting: May 9, 2018 - W, 6-4)
vs. Florida: 3-6 (last meeting: May 15, 2021 - W, 4-0)
vs. Georgia: 5-2 (last meeting: May 9, 2019 - W, 2-1 (8))
vs. Kentucky: 2-0 (last meeting: May 13, 2021 - W, 5-1)
vs. LSU: 6-6 (last meeting: May 15, 2010 - W, 5-4)
vs. Ole Miss: 1-1 (last meeting: May 13, 2017 - L, 1-4)
vs. Mississippi State: 7-1 (last meeting: May 11, 2016 - W, 2-1)
vs. Missouri: 0-0
vs. South Carolina: 0-3 (last meeting: May 10, 2002 - L, 6-4)
vs. Tennessee: 4-3 (last meeting: May 14, 2021 - W, 6-5)
vs. Texas A&M: 2-0 (last meeting: May 11, 2017 - W, 2-1 (10))

Alabama won the final series of the regular season against Missouri, rebounding from an extra-innings loss in game one to take a pair of 3-1 decisions in games two and three
The Tide has now won five of its last six meetings against the Tigers, improving to a 17-10 mark overall and 12-6 record in Tuscaloosa
Bailey Dowling led the team hitting 4-for-8 (.500), including a double and a home run
Ashley Prange hit a pair of home runs over the weekend, including a three-run blast that accounted for all three runs in Sunday's rubber match victory
Montana Fouts went 2-1 with just four runs allowed, three earned, and 26 strikeouts

In the final set of weekly softball awards from the Southeastern Conference this season, Alabama senior Montana Fouts collected her fourth SEC Softball Pitcher of the Week accolade Tuesday after posting a pair of wins last weekend in Tuscaloosa
Fouts earned a pair of wins and appeared in all three games last weekend to guide the Crimson Tide to a series win over 23rd-ranked Missouri
She held the Tigers to just four runs, three earned, over 17.2 innings pitched and struck out 26 batters as opposed to just six walks
The weekly award is Fouts' fourth of the season, previously winning back-to-back awards on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28 and a third on April 19
She is the only player to win more than two SEC weekly awards this year. It also matches her total of four from last season
It is the 13th weekly award of her career, including four Freshman of the Week honors in 2019 and eight previous Pitcher of the Week awards during her four-year career
It is the fifth Pitcher of the Week this year for the Crimson Tide with Lexi Kilfoyl also winning on April 5 following her perfect game against Georgia
Alabama pitchers have now won a combined 50 SEC Pitcher of the Week awards all-time

Alabama widest scoring margin has come in the fifth inning, outscoring its opponents 55-15
Tide batters are 73-for-213 (.343) in the fifth with 48 RBIs, the highest mark of any inning
Ally Shipman has the most fifth-inning at bats of any player, leading the team with 11 hits, 11 RBIs and four doubles in the frame
Dallis Goodnight also has double-digit hits in the fifth inning, batting 10-for-25 (.400), while Ashley Prange leads the team with nine fifth-inning runs scored

Alabama is batting 123-for-427 (.288) with two outs this season and is even better in conference play at 65-for-219 (.297)
In SEC play, 48 of the team's 104 RBIs have come with two out
Ally Shipman has seen the most at-bats with two out this season, going 19-for-54 (.352) with 11 RBIs
Bailey Dowling has driven in a team-leading 14 two-out RBIs with a 20-for-52 (.385) batting average with five doubles, a triple and four home runs

*Games played through May 8*

Team - Overall

Individual - Overall

Team - SEC Only

Individual - SEC Only

Kaylee Tow's double against Florida on April 11 was the 45th of her career, moving her past Dani Woods (2005-08) for sole possession of ninth place on the Alabama career records list and one away from tying eighth-place Christy Kyle (1997-2000)
Tow is fifth all-time with 153 career walks, which puts her eight away from fourth-place Kelly Kretschman (1998-2001)
Montana Fouts' game three shutout over Mississippi State was the 24th of her career, tying her with Chrissy Owens (2005-08) in fifth place and just two shy from Stephanie VanBrakle (2003-06)

Alabama is 488-187 (.723) all-time in SEC play, including a 453-166 (.732) mark under Head Coach Patrick Murphy
The Crimson Tide has won six SEC regular season titles (2006, '10, '11, '12, '14 and '19) and six SEC Tournament titles (1998, 2003, '05, '10, '12 and '21)
Alabama has never had a losing record in conference play, winning 20 or more conference games 11 times
The Tide is the only team to win the SEC Tournament on its home field, doing so in 2012 and 2021