Everything Montana Fouts, Ashley Prange Said After Careers Ending at WCWS

Both fifth-year seniors expressed gratitude for what the Alabama program has meant to them and talked about the role their faith plays in softball and life.

SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN -USA TODAY NETWORK

OKLAHOMA CITY — Most people would agree that Montana Fouts was the MVP  on Alabama softball this year. But the argument could definitely be made that Ashley Prange was the most valuable offensive player for the Crimson Tide. 

In Friday night's elimination to Stanford in the Women's College World Series, both Fouts and Prange played their final games in an Alabama uniform. Fouts pitched the complete game, allowing two runs, and Prange had Alabama's lone hit. 

Here is what the two Crimson Tide seniors had to say after their final game:

Full Transcript

Q. Montana, what did your career at Alabama mean to you? I know it's kind of hard to reflect, but if you could on how you're feeling right now.

MONTANA FOUTS: It's tough (tearing up).

Like Murph said...

Give me a second. I'll get it out. I promise. These people are my everything. They really are. I couldn't have asked for a better place to spend my dream. This has always been my dream. I will have people for the rest of my life. I don't even have the words. I don't know if I ever will. I don't know if I'll ever have the words for what this place, Murph, and the coaches, and these teammates mean to me.

I have a home.

Q. What does it mean to hear praise from other coaches and teams?

MONTANA FOUTS: I've been thinking about it a lot recently. I didn't start playing the game of softball just to win a national championship. I started playing because I love it. I love the game. I love the struggle that it brings me sometimes. I love, like Murph has taught me, to be an overcomer. I love that. I love that about our team. I love the memories. I love my teammates. I love that it's brought me a family.

That would have been great, but I've won in life.

Q. Ashley, your last at-bat in the sixth, you go after that pitch for strike three that was up in the zone. Was your mindset there to swing for the fences?

ASHLEY PRANGE: Honestly, I wouldn't say I was swinging for the fences. My goal at that at-bat was to make her throw a lot of pitches. She's obviously a really good pitcher. She has all the accolades for a reason. We knew that.

I was just thinking I'm not going down without a fight. Whatever it took, I was going to scratch and claw. I don't know how many pitches were in that at-bat. That was my goal: just fight.

Q. Ashley, what has that program meant transferring in? Montana, it looked like Murph came out and gave you the opportunity to have a curtain call. You turned him down. Why did you do that?

ASHLEY PRANGE: Oh, man, that's hard. I guess kind of like both of them have said, this has been the most incredible experience of my life. Dang it, I was doing good, man.

They truly taught me to find joy in a game that I never thought I could love again (tearing up).

MONTANA FOUTS: You got it.

ASHLEY PRANGE: From day one, they welcomed me with open arms and loved me more than I'll ever believe I deserve. For that, I cannot thank these two enough. I can't thank the other, how many, 19 girls, that gave me a family. They truly, like, filled my life with joy in more ways than they'll ever know. This program is my everything.

Q. Faith really seems to be a backbone for both of you. Could you tell what that looks like in your life, softball career...

ASHLEY PRANGE: I would say to even be here has been completely my faith, completely Jesus. I went in the portal with no ties really to anything and took a leap of faith in that moment to hope for something better.

I just prayed, like I've said before, for a place that could give me a platform for something bigger than myself, a place I could be welcomed for who I am, regardless of whatever I do on the softball field.

I just had that trust from day one. It led me here to these people. Like I said, it was more than anything I could ever have dreamed of. It's every answered prayer I could have asked for.

My faith, kind of like you said, daily has been something that keeps me grounded and humble to be where I am.

MONTANA FOUTS: I mean, I feel like faith is us. We have that. We are who we are because we have that. I've been blessed beyond measures, not just opportunities or wins or anything like that. I've been blessed with the people. I have faith because these people make me have faith. They show me that there is a bigger picture and there are things outside of life than softball.

I'll never stop having faith and trust.

To answer your question, the curtain call (smiling). I feel like I wouldn't change a thing. I would take any second to be out there. Home run or not, I love playing softball. I wouldn't change a thing. I think Murph knew that before he ran out there, that I wasn't coming out of the game. I would never take a pitch off from playing a game with these girls.

Q. When you think back to this team years from now, what adjectives would you use to describe this team?

ASHLEY PRANGE: There's a lot of things. It's obviously kind of hard to describe all aspects of this team with a couple adjectives.

The first one I would say is family. These girls, kind of like me and her both said, they are our worlds. They're the most amazing, energetic, goofy, anything you could use to describe a person, that's what these people are.

The team as a whole, this tournament and season was resilient. From day one we got punched and we never stopped fighting back. That's something that's defined our season and something in these girls. You can't teach grit. That's something this team has and these coaches have.

MONTANA FOUTS: We are a lot of things. I feel like we're goofy, very faithful. We are resilient. We all have grit. But to me this team is love. That's what I'm going to remember the most. That's what we're going to have 50 years from now.