Alabama Softball Releases 2015 Schedule

The defending SEC Champion and national runner-up Alabama has announced its 2015 schedule, which includes 13 NCAA Tournament teams and three series against Women’s College World Series teams from last season.

Head Coach Patrick Murphy, entering his 17th season as Alabama’s head coach and his 19th with the program in 2015, sees this as one of the most challenging schedules Alabama has ever faced.

“From our opening night game at South Alabama to the SEC Tournament in Baton Rouge, this might be the toughest schedule we’ve faced in 19 years.”

The schedule includes 13 teams that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament and six Super Regional teams, including Women’s College World Series participants Louisiana-Lafayette, Kentucky and Florida. Eleven teams on the 2015 schedule were ranked or were receiving votes in the 2014 NFCA Final Top 25 Poll.

“The non-conference tournaments will be very competitive,” said Murphy. “I like to stay close to home that first weekend. This will give our fans in southern Alabama a chance to see us over a four-day period in Mobile and Gulf Shores.”

Alabama opens the season with a Thursday night game on Feb. 5 in Mobile, Ala., against the South Alabama Jaguars in a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional final. That weekend, Alabama plays in the Sand Dollar Classic tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala., facing Eastern Kentucky, Houston, Florida Gulf Coast and FIU.

The Tide will play a midweek match at Samford in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday, Feb. 11 before heading to Stanford, Calif., for the Stanford Nike Invitational where Alabama will play Pacific, Cal Poly and Stanford. The Tide will return for a midweek game at UAB on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

The Easton Bama Bash opens up the home schedule on Feb. 20-22, as Alabama welcomes three postseason teams from 2014: Lipscomb, defending Colonial Athletic Association champion James Madison and Big 10 runner-up Michigan to Rhoads Stadium.

“The Easton Bama Bash might be one of the best four-team tournaments in the nation in 2015,” said Murphy. “All four teams won games in the NCAA Tournament last season.”

Alabama will play at Jacksonville State on Wednesday, Feb. 25 before welcoming Women’s College World Series participant Louisiana-Lafayette to Rhoads Stadium for a three-game series from Feb. 27-March 1 in this year’s Easton Crimson Classic.

“Our Easton Crimson Classic is a three-game set against one of the top programs in the nation,” said Murphy, “and it is the place where I started my career. That series will definitely have the feel of a Super Regional weekend.”

Alabama begins SEC play the following weekend hosting Ole Miss on March 6-8 before welcoming UAB to Rhoads Stadium on Tuesday, March 10. Alabama’s first SEC road trip will be to Athens, Ga., where they will take on the 2014 SEC Tournament champion Georgia Bulldogs on March 13-15. Alabama then returns home on Wednesday, March 18 to begin a 10-game home stint against Georgia State.

Alabama’s second home SEC series of the year will be a rematch of last season’s national championship, as the Florida Gators come to Tuscaloosa for a three-game series starting on Saturday, March 21 and ending on Monday, March 23. The Tide will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday, March 25 before welcoming Texas A&M to Rhoads Stadium on March 27-29.

Back-to-back games against Mississippi Valley State (Tuesday, March 31) and Southern Miss (Wednesday, April 1) close out the home stand before Alabama heads to Lexington, Ky., to face the Kentucky Wildcats in a rematch from last season’s Women’s College World Series on Easter weekend, with a doubleheader on Friday, April 3 and a single game on Saturday, April 4. Alabama will then face Middle Tennessee State at a neutral site in Decatur, Ala., on Wednesday, April 8.

Alabama briefly returns home a week later to host NC State on Wednesday, April 15 before heading to Auburn, Ala., for a three-game series against the Tigers on April 17-19. On Tuesday, April 21, Alabama will host Troy and will play its final home SEC series of the season that weekend against Tennessee on April 24-26.

The Tide close out the regular season in Fayetteville, Ark., with a three-game series against the Arkansas Razorbacks on May 1-3. The following week, qualifying teams will head to Baton Rouge, La., for the 2015 SEC Tournament (May 6-9) and teams across the nation will be waiting anxiously on Sunday, May 10 for their postseason fate as the NCAA Tournament field is announced.

Season tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 3 and single-game tickets will be available on Monday, Dec. 1.

“Our goal this year is to sell 500 brickyard season tickets,” said Murphy.

Last season, Alabama won its fifth SEC Championship en route to its 16th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, seventh NCAA Super Regional title and ninth Women’s College World Series appearance. In Oklahoma City, the Tide defeated Oklahoma, Kentucky and Oregon to advance to the championship series, ultimately falling to Florida in two games. It was the first time in NCAA softball history that two SEC teams met in the national championship series. Patrick Murphy was named the SEC Coach of the Year and the coaching staff was named the NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year. The Tide also boasted a program-record four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, including Haylie McCleney who became just the second player in Crimson Tide history to earn First Team All-American and First Team Academic All-American honors in the same season.

The Crimson Tide return 13 players from last season’s national runner-up squad, including seniors Jadyn Spencer (UT - Waterloo, Iowa), Danielle Richard (UT - Priceville, Ala.), Leslie Jury (P – Anderson, S.C.), Danae Hays (IF – Morris, Ala.) and Chaunsey Bell (C – Indianapolis, Ind.). New additions to the team include freshmen Demi Turner (IF – Huntsville, Texas), Carrigan Fain (C – Gardendale, Ala.), Alexis Osorio (P – Riverside, Calif.) and recent walk-on additions in Rachel Bobo (OF – Seabrook, Texas) and Kayla Rettig (OF – Staunton, Ill.).