Committee chair explains placing Alabama softball as a five seed in tournament

The 2023 NCAA Softball Tournament bracket and schedule were released Sunday and didn’t disappoint, revealing an exciting slate of matchups leading up to the Women’s College World Series. Some were surprised by the seeding of Alabama following the bracket release, as the Crimson Tide earned a No. 5 seed and will host the Tuscaloosa Regional this weekend.

Alabama was a No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament and took a big injury loss in their quarterfinal matchup versus Arkansas, as star pitcher Montana Fouts suffered a lower leg injury and did not appear in their semifinal loss to Tennessee.

Fouts being unavailable for the NCAA Tournament would be a significant loss for the Crimson Tide, but one that the committee could not account for, as NCAA Softball Committee Chair Kelly Gatwood explained to ESPN’s Holly Rowe the committee’s thought process regarding the Crimson Tide’s seeding.

“So those aren’t really factors that the committee necessarily focuses on,” Gatwood said. “We keep our focus on the team sheet, what a team has done throughout the season, their resume, and the results on the field.”

The Crimson Tide were regarded by many as World Series hopefuls with Fouts at the mound, as she leads the country in strikeouts with 311 and ended the season with a 1.44 ERA. The severity of the injury she suffered to her plant is still unknown, but according to Rowe, Fouts will be seeing an orthopedic doctor in Tuscaloosa Monday for an evaluation.

According to Gatwood, instead of focusing on injuries, the committee largely measured their seeding with top ten wins, top 25 wins, and the results of head to head matchups.

“So that’s what we keep our focus on, we don’t necessarily always know the information about injuries and so we just try to keep our focus on the teams,” Gatwood said.

Alabama ended the regular season and SEC tournament with a 40-18 record and suffered a 6-5 skid entering the conference tourney, ranked No. 12 in RPI to end the season. But Crimson Tide did accumulate their fair share of ranked wins during the regular season, bolstering their resume enough in the eyes of the committee to earn the tournament’s five seed.

The Crimson Tide will host Central Arkansas, Middle Tennessee, and Long Island in the regionals from May 19-21, and there’s no doubt that the injury status of Montana Fouts will be closely paid attention to by all teams leading up to the weekend.