Alabama's Patrick Murphy felt he 'owed' Montana Fouts chance to start in Super Regional

Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy said he felt like star pitcher Montana Fouts deserved a chance to get the start and mark her return for a hyper-extended left knee on Thursday in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional. Minutes after sharing that tidbit with the broadcast crew, Murphy was out in the circle, swapping Fouts out for Jaala Torrence in the top of the fourth inning.

Fouts lasted 3.1 innings against Northwestern, throwing 64 pitches giving up three runs on five hits, while also being responsible for the pair of runners she left on base. Torrence got out of the jam, though.

But it wasn’t strictly her pitching and ability to work the zone that caused Fouts problems, but the lack of mobility her injury — and the brace she’s sporting — caused.

“And she’s hitting 67, 68, and you can tell she hasn’t pitched since Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, so it’s been a while,” Murphy told the ESPN broadcast just before the inning began. “She’s obviously thrown some bullpens. But she’s a competitor, she’s full of grit. And she’s very, very resilient. She’s a role model for resiliency.”

Twice in the fourth inning, she struggled to field her position seemingly because of the injury.

First, Fouts short-armed a throw to first on a ground ball right back to her, allowing the runner to reach safely. Shortly thereafter, she couldn’t move left to get a groundball that would probably be in reach under normal circumstances. A run scored and Murphy made his decision to sit Fouts down.

“She had a really good week of rehab. Our athletic trainer somewhere near me, Esi Atinkah, all the doctors, everybody medical-wise has been terrific with her. And she came to us the other day and said it’s the best it’s felt,” Murphy said. “And I just feel like I owed her a shot.”

There’s every possibility that Fouts pitches again this weekend, and Alabama might need something special from her if Northwestern takes the first game of the series.

So far, the Alabama offense has been mostly stifled by pitcher Danielle Williams and the defense behind her. Murphy said he wants his lineup to sit back and take a bit off their swings to deal with the diet of changeups that Williams is giving them.

“I think we just need to take a little bit off our swing. I think we should widen out just a little bit, almost to a two-strike approach because there are a lot of changeups. And a lot of balls we hit hard on changeups, we may be over swinging. And shoot, I’ll take a single up the middle,” Murphy said.