How Montana Fouts won four games in three days to keep No. 2 Alabama softball undefeated
No. 2-ranked Alabama softball remained unbeaten with four wins in the T-Mobile Crimson Classic at Rhoads Stadium.
The Crimson Tide (20-0) defeated Texas 5-4 Friday night, powered by the arm of Montana Fouts and Megan Bloodworth's team-leading fifth home run. Alabama defeated the Longhorns 3-1 and Miami (Ohio) 4-2 on Saturday with help from two Fouts relief appearances and a two-run home run from Bailey Dowling.
On Sunday, Fouts shut down Miami again for her fourth win in three days as the Tide rolled, 10-2. Alabama had 13 hits, tying a season high, including a four-RBI day from Jenna Johnson.
Ally Shipman is on a five-game hit streak and has at least one RBI in six of her last eight games. Kaylee Tow and Dallis Goodnight extended their on-base streaks to 17 and 13 games.
CRIMSON TIDE 2022 OPENER: No. 2 Alabama softball shows dominance on opening weekend, clobbers No. 9 Arizona
ALABAMA HOME OPENING WEEKEND: No. 2 Alabama softball is crushing opponents to begin 2022 season
MARDI GRAS MAMBO RECAP: No. 2 Alabama softball picks up two mercy rule wins over No. 20 Louisiana in Mardi Gras tourney sweep
Here are three things we learned:
Masterful Montana
Fouts pitched 17⅓ innings over the weekend, including two starts and two relief appearances.
With Lexi Kilfoyl out with an injury for an undisclosed amount of time, Fouts (10-0, 0.77 ERA) has proved herself as the workhorse. In her relief appearance against Miami, Fouts entered with a runner on third, one out and allowed no runs. In the appearance against the Longhorns, Fouts entered with two runners in scoring position and one out, but allowed no runs.
Despite opponents having runners in scoring position with less than two outs on seven occasions, Fouts surrendered just three earned runs, all of which came on two Texaas home runs Friday night.
"Montana is getting her endurance up, she's getting stronger as the season goes by," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said.
Fouts totaled 26 strikeouts. He allowed 14 hits, walked four and threw 293 pitches. She has allowed one run or fewer in all but one appearance this season.
2022 TEAM OUTLOOK: Montana Fouts, Kaylee Tow lead No. 2 Alabama softball as it opens 2022 season
Timely web gems, few errors
The Crimson Tide defense turned three double plays during the weekend, after turning just 11 last season.
In Friday's win, the Crimson Tide turned two double plays, led by third baseman Ashley Prange's outstanding catch and throw. Two of the three were 6-4-3 double plays.
Dowling had a web gem with a 360-degree spin and throw to first base to get the runner in Saturday's win over Texas. Johnson also had a fully extended catch in left field against the Longhorns, and right fielder Kat Grill caught several balls in foul territory as well.
RHOADS STADIUM WINS 2021 'BEST FIELD': How Alabama's grass whisperer prepped Crimson Tide softball field to win national award
Party at Rhoads
The Alabama softball team sold out Rhoads Stadium three times in 2021.
The Crimson Tide has done so twice this season and already has sold out the Georgia series on April 1 and hit a program-high 3,200 season tickets purchased.
Saturday’s double-header was sold out. The other sellouts came against No. 8 Virginia Tech and Middle Tennessee the Saturday of the Easton Bama Bash.
"The crowd was awesome. Not only are they the best fans in the country, they’re also the most knowledgeable," Murphy said. "They can feel when we need a little boost. Any time a pitcher starts to get a little anxious, they come through in the clutch, so the crowd was awesome."
PRESEASON AWARDS: Alabama softball named preseason favorite in SEC by league coaches
What's next
The Crimson Tide travels to Baton Rouge to take on No. 22 LSU in a three-game series: Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
Reach Brett Greenberg at bgreenberg@gannett.com or follow @74talk on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama softball sweep Crimson Classic, Montana Fouts wins four games
