It’s tough being #1, especially this time of year in NCAA fastpitch softball. For the 3rd week in a row, we have a new #1. First #1 Tennessee was knocked off by conference rival Florida and Texas rose to #1, then, last week, Texas lost a 3-game series to Alabama and now Texas Tech is the new #1.
But I want to reverse and talk more about Alabama. Alabama is currently ranked #3, and I think the softball world is sleeping on what I think is a legit championship contender.
Alabama’s pitching staff is legit, led by three pitchers who have a sub 2.0 ERA this late into the season.
The staff is led by Junior Jocelyn Briski, currently sitting on a 1.75 ERA with 118 strike outs in 84 innings and a 1.404 strike out per inning ratio.
The other two star pitchers are both freshmen—starting with Vic Moten, who is firmly in the #2 slot and has numbers almost identical to Briski. She has a 1.80 ERA with 116 strike outs in 85 innings and a 1.36 strike out per inning ratio.
Freshman phenom #2 is Kaitlyn Pallozzi, who has a 1.78 ERA with 46 strike outs in 51 innings and a .9 strike out per inning ratio.
Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy is not using the traditional “one horse” strategy most other elite programs use with his staff. He is sharing innings in each game between his 3 star pitchers. During the series with Texas no one pitcher went the full 7 innings, instead Alabama sent in a reliever to start the 4th inning and finish the game in 2 of the 3 matchups. Sharing innings helps keep arms fresh, especially when the are needed late in the season, but for some reason most teams just ride with one pitcher for most of the playoffs—but when you have 3 top pitchers sharing makes a lot more sense
Alabama’s elite pitching and pitching depth are going to be a huge advantage in the playoffs. Which are only 4 weeks away!
