UA softball team faces off against another ranked SEC foe

TUSCALOOSA | The second-ranked University of Alabama softball team may deserve a break, but it’s going to have to wait until after the weekend.

After playing a total of five games against teams ranked in the top five in the last week, the Crimson Tide goes on the road for a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Mississippi State today and Sunday.

After taking two out of three from No. 4 Tennessee last weekend and splitting a mid-week doubleheader against Florida, which replaced the Lady Vols in the No. 4 spot in the latest national poll, Alabama won’t be able to catch its breath until it concludes its business in Starkville, Miss.

“Once you’re in the SEC it’s bam-bam-bam,” sophomore first baseman Charlotte Morgan said. “We have a lot [of teams] in the top 25 poll and a target is on our back from the start. We’ve got to come out with our best stuff from the first pitch.

“We know we’ve got to come out and close everything. Get out there, do what we’ve got to do and get out.”

Junior third baseman Kelley Montalvo has learned that the SEC schedule is a grind.

“Having these teams, all of them ranked, they’re all going to show up ready to play,” she said. “Tennessee was this weekend, it’s over. Florida, it’s over. Now it’s Mississippi State and we’ve got to be ready for them.”

Alabama won the first two games against Tennessee by the mercy rule before losing the final game of the series. The Tide defeated Florida 1-0 in the first game of the doubleheader, then gave up a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning of a tie game to end up with a split. With two losses already in league play, Alabama is in third place in the SEC Western Division standings, but UA head coach Patrick Murphy is looking at the long haul.

“We told the team that the most consistent team [in the SEC] for 28 games is going to be champion,” he said. “This is such a good year. The parity is there. Everybody is good.”

Mississippi State was expected to be improved this season after going 35-27 and earning an NCAA Tournament bid last season. The Bulldogs won their first 11 games to set a tone, but faltered in dropping two out of three in a mid-week series at Auburn to start out SEC play.

“You go into their home with their fans at their stadium where all the odds are with them, we’ve got to go in there and show them who we are and don’t back down from anything,” she said.

Alabama swept Mississippi State last year in Tuscaloosa, winning two games by the mercy rule, but Murphy doesn’t think the Bulldogs can be taken lightly.

“They have that attitude of, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose,’” he said. “They play real loose. They play like it’s 0-0. It’s a good quality. They have short memories and every game is going to be different from the first one.”

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.