Patrick Murphy used football, basketball to inspire Alabama softball team

The Alabama softball team made an improbable run to the Women’s College World Series this season, taking down some really good teams along the way. Not many would have picked the Crimson Tide to advance as far.

But that was kind of the theme of Alabama athletics this season, coach Patrick Murphy said.

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“I think it started with football,” Murphy said. “They lost to Texas. They had a lousy game against South Florida. Then they just kept getting better and better and better. I love being a spring sport because I get to learn from the fall sports.

“Then here comes basketball. They had a couple rough outings. Then they pull it together. Nobody, nobody thought that they could get to the Final Four. Nate Oats takes this team for the first time ever to the Final Four.”

Those type of performances can be inspiring within an athletic department. There’s usually a healthy competition between athletes, with one sport wanting to edge out another in a friendly rivalry of sorts.

Alabama softball certainly latched onto that idea, particularly after seeing what those other two programs did in terms of fighting through adversity.

“I’m thinking, We can do that, we can do the same thing,” Murphy said. “Any coach that has a rough start or a rough go, whatever, you don’t give up on a team. You don’t give up on anybody.”

Say one thing about Alabama softball this season. It did not give up. Not even in a brutally tough Super Regional matchup against Tennessee.

The Crimson Tide scratched, clawed and fought their way to a berth in Oklahoma City. The run ended after a couple losses, but not before Alabama proved it was one of the grittiest teams in the field.

“You heard them, they did not give up on each other,” Murphy said. “Nobody quit. Everybody kept working. It started to kind of reveal itself a little bit. We played better, better, better, better, better.

“Then magic for Regionals. You saw what happened at Super Regionals. I thought we played really well down the stretch. It’s a team whose legacy is going to be they didn’t give up on each other, they kept working. Doesn’t matter what you do regular season, you get a whole new start and you can start fresh. I think they proved to everybody that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. A great lesson for a lot of teams.”