One Final Accolade: Montana Fouts is 2023 National Pitcher of the Year

The Alabama Crimson Tide softball season may have been over for a few weeks, but hardware is still being handed out. And it is somewhat fitting that the person with whom the program has become most identified, the person whose success has been most necessary for the Crimson Tide’s success, and the national face of the sport is riding off into the sunset with one final slow tip of the cap her direction.

Montana Fouts was named the 2023 Softball USA National Pitcher of the Year:

Fouts did not have her best year, or her most consistent one, and she certainly did not have her healthiest one, yet somehow she was able to lead the nation in strikeouts…again. and despite her “unsteady” year, Fouts held a 25-11 record with a 1.49 ERA and 323 strikeouts.

When she walked into the circle on a wounded leg, and secured a series-clinching 100th win and a Tide trip to Oklahoma City, a larger legend for the sport was born.

Call this a valedictory for her outstanding career if you want to, but even if it was, it was well deserved.

Roll Tide