Patrick Murphy breaks down how Alabama can stop back-and-forth, 'yo-yo softball'

Saturday’s NCAA Tournament game against Middle Tennessee State wasn’t easy early on for Alabama. The two teams went back-and-forth, trading the lead through the first four innings.

Crimson Tide coach Patrick Murphy had an interesting way of looking at it.

“I call it ‘yo-yo softball,'” Murphy said on the ESPN+ broadcast ahead of the fourth inning. “We score, they score, we score, they score.”

That’s exactly what happened in the first three innings. Middle Tennessee State got on the board first with a home run in the first inning and added onto it with another one in the second. Then, Alabama tied things up at 2-2 on an MTSU error in the third inning and added two more on a double by Bailey Dowling to take a 4-2 lead. It didn’t last long, though, as the Raiders scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to jump back out in front 5-4.

Then, Alabama started the fourth inning with a Kali Heivilin home run — a two-run shot to help the Crimson Tide jump back out in front, 6-5.

The back-and-forth nature of the game is exciting, but Murphy knows at some point, Alabama has to keep a red-hot MTSU team off the scoreboard. That’s why he wants to see the pitching staff, still without ace Montana Fouts due to injury, come out aggressive the rest of the way.

“We need a pitcher to get out there and say they’re not going to score and that’s it, that’s all they’re going to get,” Murphy said. “You see the product of a really hot team right now. We need to make better pitches, we need to figure out where the strike zone is, according to the home plate umpire, and then put the pitches there.”

Patrick Murphy defends Faith Hensley after highlight-reel catch leads to run

One of the key plays in the third inning was a great catch in foul territory by Faith Hensley, who originally entered as a pinch runner and stayed in the game to play defense in the top of the third. It came at an inopportune time, though, as Middle Tennessee State had the bases loaded and a run scored on what turned into a sacrifice fly.

Hensley could’ve easily let the ball drop and save the run. However, Murphy said Alabama desperately needed a second out in the inning, which is why he was perfectly fine sacrificing the run.

“That was a hell of a catch by Faith Hensley with the bases loaded. At that time, we needed outs,” Murphy said. “Sometimes, you say don’t catch it, a foul ball. But that time, we needed that out and she made a great play.”

It all worked out as Alabama took the lead two batters into the fourth inning.