Alabama Softball Hosts Fall Brawl This Weekend
10/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Crimson Tide softball fans will get their first official look at the 2005 University of Alabama softball team in action this weekend as the Tide hosts the 2004 Fall Brawl!
Alabama will play a tripleheader against Central Alabama Community College, Wallace-Dothan and Shelton State, three of the top junior college programs in the state.
“Everybody should get a lot of at-bats against live pitching and our pitchers will obviously see different hitters which will be good for them because these are the top three junior colleges in the state,” said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy. “And we’ll be put in live situations. We’ll be put in a situations where we’ll have to think and react and make the right play and the right call. That’s good at any time of the year because they’re going to remember the situations they’ve been in when it happens again.”
However, even though the stats won’t count for anything and the scores won’t go into the record books, Murphy says the Tide won’t approach the tournament any differently than they would prepare for a doubleheader against an SEC school.
“Everything’s going to be the same as they would be in the spring,” said Murphy. “Hopefully the team will be excited to play. It’s the last day of the fall, it’s been a long couple of months and they’ve worked really hard so it’s kind of a reward.”
The three games will provide Murphy with an opportunity to juggle his lineup around and try people out at different positions.
“Everybody will play and everybody will start,” said Murphy. “The three pitchers will start each game, as will the three catchers. The lineups will be totally different in each game, so I think it will be good to see where people fit in best in the lineup.”
The Tide captured the first ever Fall Brawl! last year when the team ran through the entire tournament allowing only one run on four hits, defeating Central Alabama 2-1, Jefferson State 17-0 and Shelton State 3-0.
The festivities will begin Saturday at 12:00 p.m. with the Tide taking on Central Alabama followed by Alabama and Wallace-Dothan at 2:00 p.m. The Crimson Tide-Shelton State game at 4:00 p.m. will close out the day. Live stats for all games will be available at www.rolltide.com and live audio for the Alabama-Shelton State game will also be available at www.rolltide.com as well as WVUA 90.7 FM where Chad Anderson will do the play-by-play along with J.J. Roper.
