Montana Fouts Wills Alabama Softball to Two Wins Over LSU

In another highly-anticipated series, it was a roller coaster of emotions for the last 2023 regular season games in Tuscaloosa.

It was all Montana Fouts as the Tide struggle to get much going with the bats.

GAME 1: ALABAMA 4, LSWho? 0

You know things are going right when the defense is making plays like this:

Yet another jumble of picking the batting order out of a hat saw Jenna Johnson leading off and Cahalan hitting clean-up for what I believe is the first time all season. Lauren Esman was at first base in place of Emma “Don’t Call Me Gordon” Broadfoot. Kali “Just Like” Heivilin returned to second base and Bailey Dowling returned to DH. Back-up catcher Marlie Giles got the start at... centerfield. The good news is that Ashley Prange was back at third base after an injury scare last weekend.

Bama struck first off freshman Sydney Berzon with a two-run utter destruction of the softball by Cahalan in the first inning.

In the next frame, Larissa Preuitt hit about the shortest ball in the history of softball to go for a four-bagger.

A great play by Preuitt but poor coaching on LSU’s part. In a situation like that, the catcher is better off conceding the hit and letting the ball roll to see if it goes foul.

Bama made it a 4-0 advantage after Giles singled in a run in the third and Bama hung on for dear life.

Montana Fouts did her part, tossing a complete game shutout. The Tigers managed four singles and a walk while striking out six times.

GAME 2: LSU 6, ALABAMA 1

Saturday was Senior Day and you know what that means. Big emotions, crying, hugging and sadness. Okay. Now let’s go play some softball. A REAL recipe for success, huh?

Before the game, Patrick Murphy donned a blindfold and threw a dart at three pictures on the wall in his office. The projectile landed on the photo of Lauren Esman. As a double-whammy, The Gut® also batted his mad scientist project sixth in the lineup (0 for 3 with 2 K at the plate).

It took LSU all of six pitches to take the lead. Single, double, noisy out, single, single, fly out, wild pitch, single and it was 4-0 Tigers. Jaala Torrence had to enter the game to get the third out. LSU scored two more on singles in the third.

Bailey Dowling provided the sole Bama highlight on a solo homer in the fourth inning. Other than that, Ali Kilponen was downright dominant in a 2-hit complete game win.

GAME 3: PRANGE & FOUTS 2, LSU 0

Prange’s homer in the first inning off Kilponen and ground out in the third inning accounted for all of Bama’s runs on Sunday. The Crimson Tide managed only three hits on the day. Fortunately, LSU could only muster up two against laser-focused Fouts (20-8). The super-senior struck out nine and walked one for her fourth straight complete game victory.

NOTES

*** Lollipop unicorn rainbow chasers, stop reading here lest ye get your feelings hurt! ***

The RBR softball coverage will call them as we see them and will not change because some reader(s) got upset because someone declared Patrick to not be a Saint. We are not going to blow sunshine up your backsides and pretend everything is all unicorns frolicking in a field of gumdrops and lollipops when it is not. If that is the sort of thing you want, there are plenty of sunshine-pumpers out there willing to fill your pretty little head with that sort of malarkey.

Is the Gut EVER going to learn? He has GOT to stop f**king with his players emotions, filling them up with tears and then expect to win games. We saw it last year with the disastrous trip to Appalachia that made everyone homesick and the encore this year.

On Friday, Team27 came out pumped. They were looking and playing like Alabama teams of old. And then Saturday, it was Senior Day. What a great way to stop a charging bull.

It is great to honor seniors, but maybe tone it down (no video montage with a sad soundtrack on the Jumbotron). Or even better, why not do it AFTER the final game on Sunday?

• Senior Day was disappointing for the Tide but probably none more so than for Faith Hensley. She came to T-town from Ball State with a MAC Player of the Year Trophy in tow. Softball America’s Preseason Top 100 List had her at #80. This season - her last - she has made two starts against SEC foes and is hitting .176 against conference opponents with 0 RBI and one run scored.
• Emma Broadfoot played 2/3 of an inning in the field and that was it for the weekend. Giles played all three games in centerfield (1-6, 1 RBI).
• One hit wonders: Cahalan, Heivilin, Giles, Esman all had at least six at bats and all had one hit. Shipman was 0-for-the weekend (0-8). Dowling and Preuitt had two each.
• Bama as a team hit .179 (12-67) for the series with three solo home runs representing the only extra base hits.
• The good news for Game 2 and 3 was that Bama cut down on leaving runners on base - ONLY 3 and 2!

• Larissa Preuitt had the Tide’s only two stolen bases and attempts of the series.
• Alabama (36-16, 12-9 SEC) has now won five-straight SEC series over LSU (38-13, 11-10 SEC) in Tuscaloosa (2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2023). The last home series loss to the Tigers came in in 2004.
• Fouts was again amazing. Can you imagine where this team might be if Murphy had acquired some real pitching help from the transfer portal in the off-season? Can you imagine where this team might be if anything unfortunate had befall Fouts this spring?
• With 15 strikeouts over the two games, Fouts now has 1,135 in Alabama career whiffs. Can she catch Kelsi Dunne (84 back)?

1. 1,219 Kelsi Dunne 2008-11
2. 1,135 Montana Fouts 2019-pres.
3. 1,113 Stephanie VanBrakle 2003-06
4. 1,063 Alexis Osorio 2015-18

• Fouts now has 34 career shutouts, four behind second-place Dunne.
• All three games were at capacity.

MVP

• FOUTS: 2 SHUTOUT WINS, 14.0 INNINGS, 7 HITS & 0 RUN ALLOWED, 15 K, 2 BB.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The final three games of the regular season come on the road against a slippery Rebels team who just lost 2 of 3 in a tight series at Florida. A top 16 seed is at stake for Alabama.

• Friday, May 5 at Ole Miss 6 p.m. CT Oxford, MS
• Saturday, May 6 at Ole Miss 1 p.m. CT Oxford, MS - SEC Network
• Sunday, May 7 at Ole Miss 1 p.m. CT Oxford, MS

#RollTide #Team27 #BoycottALdotcom