On Friday, Alabama softball head coach Patrick Murphy secured his 1,300th career win with a 1-0 victory over USC Upstate in the Crimson Tide’s first game in the 2024 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. Instead of raving about his accomplishment after the game, Murphy praised his players.
“To have two freshmen [pitchers] in their first postseason starts put together performances like that was remarkable to see,” Murphy said. “Kudos to [Upstate pitcher Sierra Maness] and Jocelyn Briski. She has been doing a great job for us this year.
“In the postseason, it’s survive and advance. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1-0, 8-0 or 10-9 — you only need to score one more run than the other team. USC Upstate made a lot of plays as did our defense. Briski was awesome and Bailey Dowling came up with the key hit.”
Alabama’s pitching was excellent in the win on Friday, only giving up two hits and a walk to USC Upstate while delivering three strikeouts. Briski pitched for 6.1 innings before Kayla Beaver came in to close the game.
Alabama’s stellar defense was nothing new. Friday marked the Crimson Tide’s 15th shutout victory of the season and its third when tied after 5.0 innings. Jenna Johnson and Bailey Dowling led the way on offense, each recording two hits, their ninth and seventh multi-hit performances of the season, respectively.
Patrick Murphy’s history of excellence
As fantastic as Alabama’s players were, Murphy shouldn’t short-sell himself. With the win, Alabama has now won its opening game in the NCAA Regionals every year since 2003. After serving for three years as an assistant for the Crimson Tide, Murphy was named the program’s head coach in 1999.
He boasts 1,272 wins at Alabama alone and 28 from his short stint at Northwest Missouri State in 1995. Murphy has guided Alabama to 14 Women’s College World Series appearances since 2000, which is only second to UCLA in that span.
He is a five-time SEC Coach of the Year and has led Alabama to six regular-season SEC titles and five conference tournament championships. Now, Murphy is on the hunt to add to his postseason résumé.
History is on his side. Alabama owns a 69-12 (.852) record in NCAA Regional play. Further, since the introduction of the current postseason format in 2005, the Crimson Tide have advanced to Super Regionals in 17 of its previous 18 opportunities.
Alabama won’t have to wait long to have a chance to extend its win streak. On Saturday, Alabama will square off against Southeastern at 10:30 a.m. CT.
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