Patrick Murphy on Alabama Softball: 'We Still Have Everything in Front of Us'

Team 27 is at the halfway point in the SEC schedule with series left against Mississippi State, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama softball is exactly halfway through its SEC schedule with four series down and four to go. At the halfway mark, the Crimson Tide has a .500 record in conference play. 

The team lost its first two series at home against Arkansas and on the road at Tennessee before bouncing back with series wins on the road at Missouri and over South Carolina at home. Alabama hasn't been swept yet, but it also hasn't swept an opponent. 

Overall, Alabama sits at 29-12, which is more losses than the Crimson Tide normally has at this time of year. But because of the depth of the SEC and the challenge of the non-conference schedule and some of the good wins the team has racked up, Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy is encouraged with where his team is heading into the final stretch of its schedule. 

"We still have everything in front of us," Murphy said. "The games that we have left are going to help us, and if we do what we're capable of doing, we're gonna shoot up because we have the No. 2 strength the schedule in the country right now.”

Murphy feels like his team still hasn't showed what they are fully capable of, particularly on offense. Montana Fouts has been nearly untouchable for the last two weeks, and Alabama has gotten quality innings out of its other pitchers over the last week, but the offense is still lagging behind. 

The Crimson Tide is averaging less than three runs per game on offense in SEC play. In Tuesday night's 6-2 win over Samford, it was the most runs Alabama had scored since March 22, but still left opportunities on the table and missed out on the chance to run-rule after scoring six runs in the first two innings. 

"Good hitting is contagious," Murphy said. "Bad hitting is contagious. I think timely hitting is contagious. And it's what's encouraging to everybody is, we still haven't done it yet. And we're capable of it."

Now, Alabama prepares for a road series at Mississippi State, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are coming off one of their best seasons in program history, but lost a lot of players from that team and sit at 23-16 overall and 3-8 in SEC play with all three wins being over South Carolina. Mississippi State has gotten swept by Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M. 

The Mississippi State pitching staff has the second worse in-conference ERA, so it could be a good opportunity for the Alabama bats to come alive and build off what they did against Samford. 

See also:

Bailey Dowling's Bat Leads Alabama Softball to 6-2 Win at Samford

Montana Fouts Earns Second-Straight National, SEC Pitcher of Week Honors

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