Just a Minute: Importance of Softball's Win Over Florida
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00:00 Welcome into Bama Central's Just a Minute.
00:05 I am Blake Beiler here with Katie Windham.
00:07 And Katie, we're going to be talking a little Alabama softball after this past weekend.
00:11 Alabama looks like they could potentially get swept by Florida in the SEC opening series.
00:17 Lost the first game, got shut out, and then got run ruled in the second game.
00:20 But Alabama came back and shut out Florida.
00:22 In the series finale, they were able to pick up that last win of the series.
00:27 Katie, how important was it to pick up that win for this Alabama softball team coming
00:33 off of their first SEC series of the season and going forward with a tough week ahead
00:38 of them and obviously an always tough SEC schedule?
00:41 Yeah, I think you really hit it with the last part of that question.
00:44 I mean, any time you don't want to get swept, period.
00:48 Certainly out at home and certainly not to start SEC play and be kind of in that 0-3
00:52 hole.
00:53 But really the way those first two games had gone, I expected Alabama to get swept.
00:58 They weren't making adjustments to the plate.
01:00 The pitching had been good in both games.
01:02 I know they gave up 11 runs in the second game.
01:04 But if people just look at the box, they're like, "Oh, the pitchers were terrible."
01:08 But really the pitchers pitched fine.
01:10 They just got let down by their defense a lot.
01:12 And then things got a little out of control late when Florida already had a lead.
01:15 But the starters did fine all weekend.
01:18 Really they did more than fine.
01:19 They did great.
01:20 But the offense, once again, was kind of the issue.
01:22 And then game one against Florida's ace, Keegan Rothrock, they only got one hit the whole
01:27 game.
01:28 Monday's game, they start out the game with a base hit.
01:30 So it's like, "OK, that way it was a little bit already off their shoulders."
01:33 They've already matched their hit total.
01:34 They score a run in the first inning, which is more than they'd done in the first game.
01:38 But I think the two biggest things with them winning that, like you said, they avoid the
01:42 sweep.
01:43 But they do have a super tough schedule the rest of the week.
01:45 On Wednesday night, tonight, they play at Florida State for midweek, a huge midweek
01:49 game from a team that's a program that's given Alabama a lot of trouble the last couple
01:53 years.
01:54 And then this weekend, their second SEC series is at Georgia, who's top five in the country
01:57 and was predicted to finish top two in the SEC this year.
02:00 It has a really strong offense that Alabama's going to have to match in some capacities
02:04 if they want to win any games in Athens this weekend.
02:08 But also I think the response you saw from the team is just good from a mental standpoint.
02:12 Because after the game on Sunday, I asked Patrick Murphy, "What do you need to see from
02:16 your team on Monday?"
02:17 And he said he needed to see a response, whether they won, lost, or tied the game.
02:22 He needed to see how they were going to respond.
02:24 And talking to the players after the game on Monday, Marley Jolla said that the upperclassmen
02:29 kind of kept them late after that run-roll loss.
02:32 And they really talked through things.
02:34 And it wasn't just on the field that got better.
02:36 The energy in the dugout got better on Monday.
02:37 So I think we saw a mindset shift in this team.
02:41 Marley said Sunday's game when they got run-rolled was rock bottom.
02:44 So basically the only place to go is up.
02:48 This is a really tough SEC.
02:49 This year it's a tough SEC schedule.
02:50 Alabama is going to lose more games.
02:52 But I think we saw on Monday what this team can be.
02:56 Kayla Beaver was phenomenal all weekend.
02:58 She's their ace.
02:59 If they can get some offense to back these pitchers up, if they can play error-free defense,
03:04 or just a little less errors than they had on Sunday, then this team is going to be a
03:09 top-10 team and potentially with their RPI can get to a place where they're a top-8 seed
03:16 hosting a Super Regional or in that position to again.
03:19 Obviously it's a long way to go.
03:20 But winning that game on Monday set that all up.
03:22 Because I think if you lose that game, you're heading into a really tough week and you could
03:26 potentially have started SEC play 0-6.
03:28 But I think that that gives them a little motivation and belief in themselves that this
03:35 team can win tough games.
03:37 Yeah, that resiliency is really big to be able to avoid a potential spiral with how
03:43 difficult the schedule is here.
03:44 But Alabama does have a difficult week with Florida State on the road and then a road
03:50 series against Georgia coming this weekend.
03:52 Katie will have all of our coverage for Bama Central.
03:55 This has been Bama Central's Just a Minute.
03:57 Thank you so much, Pearl.
03:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]