2025 Alabama Crimson Tide Softball Preview: Many New Faces

@AlabamaSB

Alabama softball’s 29th incarnation will be one like none other. This team will have only seven returning players who played for the Crimson Tide as a freshman. Of the 21 player roster, nine will be donning the crimson and white for the first time. Four are true freshmen. Five are transferring in from other schools. Only one of the five Bama seniors originally signed with the Tide in infielder Kali Heivilin.

LAST SEASON

Team28 finished in an unfamiliar ninth place in the SEC at 39-20. Excluding 2020, the win total was second lowest since coach Patrick Murphy took over in 1999. For the first time ever in program history, the Tide finished with a losing conference record at 10-14.

Following the graduation of All-World pitcher Montana Fouts in 2023, there was much trepidation regarding the pitching staff for 2024. However, Murphy plucked an absolute gem of a pitcher in Kayla Beaver out of Central Arkansas. Fellow righty Jocelyn Briski took some lumps as a true freshman but showed great promise in the circle.

The offense was… well… a bit tepid… and a whole lotta frustrating. Among SEC teams, only South Carolina had a lower team batting average then the Crimson Tide (.251). Bama was 11th in the league in homers with 42, led by Marlie Giles with a whopping total of 7. IF Kenleigh Cahalan topped the team in runs (55, 16 more than the next closest Tide player), doubles, triples and RBI. Unfortunately, she now resides in Gainesville, FL. OF Jenna Johnson was the second most productive player but she is out of eligibility.

Despite the offensive liabilities, the Crimson Tide still won their weak-ass Regional and then upset Tennessee two games to one in the Super Regional – mostly due to the phenomenal pitching of Beaver. Alabama’s high-wire act got them back to their 15th Women’s College World Series, but they were knocked out after three games.

Two Tide players were named Second Team All-SEC last year – Beaver (graduated) and Calahan (transfer out) – and they are both gone. Beaver kept the Alabama streak of having an NFCA All-American dating back to 1998, the second year of the Tide program. That might be a tough task to duplicate this spring.

PRESEASON

Alabama is ranked No. 11 in the USA Softball and SoftballAmerica polls and No. 17 by D1 Softball. More surprisingly is who is NOT at the top. The pollsters are hedging their bets that the Sooners cannot make it five National Championships in a row. Instead, Texas and Florida hold the top two spots with the Gators picked as top banana twice and the ‘Horns once. Oklahoma sits at No. 3 in all.

This time last season, season tickets had been sold out. As of post, Brickyard (General Admission) tix are available at $99.00 a pop.

COACHES

For better of for worst, there will be some continuity in the coaching staff. Of course, Patrick Murphy is back as head coach for his 27th season. Also returning are former Tide All-American and SEC Network personality Kayla Braud, pitching coach Lance McMahon, and Adam Arbour who does lord knows what.

As it seems with everything around the UA program, Murphy is super-secretive and rarely feeds information to the public. It is unclear what roles Braud and Arbour are serving outside of the former standing in the first base coach’s box and clapping her hands just like her predecessor. It almost seems like Murphy likes to control everything instead of delegating some duties.

Ryan Iamurri is back again in her off-field position of Coordinator of Player Management.

PLAYERS

GONE (deep breath)

The personnel losses after the 2023 season were pretty devastating (Fouts, Prange, Shipman, et al). While this last round of off-season departures do not cut as deep, there are some profound losses in senior leadership.

• RHP Kayla Beaver, Graduated
• OF Jenna Johnson, Graduated
• IF Bailey Dowling, Graduated
• IF Kenleigh Cahalan, Transfer to Florida
• RHP Jaala Torrence, Graduated
• UTIL Emma Broadfoot, Graduated
• OF Kat Grill, Graduated
• LHP/UTIL Lauren Esman, Graduated
• RHP Alex Salter, Retired
• PR M’Kay Gidley, Graduated
• UTIL KJ Haney, Graduated

The good news for Alabama is that they only lost one player to the portal. The bad news is that one player was their best hitter in 2024. Further bad news is they lost their ace pitcher and second and third best hitters who are all out of eligibility.

Last year was “Jenna Johnson’s team”. Who will take over that role as team leader this season?

RETURNING PLAYERS

• 1B/DH Abby Duchscherer, Jr. – “Duke” came to Alabama with much fanfare as a great athlete but perhaps a little raw. Now in her third season at the Capstone, it is time to take that next step.
• 2B/3B Kali Heivilin, Sr. – Kali manned second base last season. As the most experienced infielder, she might make a move to the hot corner. We’ll see.
• CF Kristen White, Jr. – Perhaps the only player who is locked into a position is this junior as starting center fielder.
• OF Larissa Preuitt, Jr. – A Murphy favorite, she needs to prove she can start in the outfield.
• OF Lauren Johnson, So. – Could “Jenna’s kid sister” break out and become leader of this team as a sophomore?
• C Marlie Giles, Jr. – Maybe the best hitter on the team, but she has struggled behind the plate at times.
• C Riley Valentine, Jr. – A lot of big hit or miss from this Phoenix, Arizona native at the plate, but a solid catcher.
• OF Kendal Clark, Sr. – Clark had some issues adjusting from being a Juco All-American to facing SEC pitching. Hopefully with a year under her belt, she has caught up.
• RHP Jocelyn Briski, So. – So much was put on this true freshman to perform last season. With Beaver gone, the load got that much heavier.
• RHP Alea Johnson, Jr. – This former LSU Tiger had some inconsistency last season but showed some sparks of ace pitching at times.
• PR Kinley Pate, Jr. – Murphy always likes to have a pinch-runner on the team. Pate appeared in 43 of 59 games with only one at bat. She scored 19 runs and was 8 for 8 in stolen bases.

FRESHMEN

The Tide signed four freshmen.

• IF Kennedy Marceaux, Fr. – The Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year hit .615 with 21 home runs and 50 RBIs as a senior. She also scored 65 runs and collected 14 doubles, 6 triples and 25 stolen bases. Marceaux also played shortstop for her high school, but most of these girls who move on to college ball usually do. She will be tough to keep on the bench.
• OF Audrey Vandagriff, Fr. – That surname may sound familiar as Audrey is the sister of former UGA/Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff. Coming from an athletic family, she is a Georgia state champion in softball and track (100m and 200m). At 6’0”, she is the tallest player on the team along with Abby Duchscherer. A 6-footer who can run the 100? Get out of here!
• RHP Braya Hodges, Fr. – This Dothan native is a state champion pitcher who brings another arm to the rotation.
• IF Mari Hubbard, Fr. – This Huntsvillian can play all four spots in the infield. She hit .439 as a senior with 17 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs, 42 RBIs, 48 runs.

NEW TRANSFERS

With so many holes to fill, Murphy did some shopping in the off-season and came up with some interesting prospects and what must have been a few Gut® feelings.

• SS/IF Brooke Ellestad, Sr. – This Wisconsin native spent her first two seasons at St. Thomas (Minn.) where she starred at shortstop. Last season at ULL, she helped lead the Rajuns into the post-season while earning All-Sun Belt First Team (2024) honors. She hit .359 with 8 doubles, 9 HR, and a team-leading 54 RBI. She is a free swinger as evident by her OBP which is only a few ticks higher than her BA at .385. She took a walk only 9 times and was not hit by a pitch. She whiffed only 16 times. Ellestad is all about making contact with the ball.
• RHP Catelyn Riley, Sr. – It is unclear what Murphy saw in this Ole Miss hurler. She was the No. 2 pitcher on a pretty blah Rebels squad in 2024. Her record was 4-7 and ERA was 2.81. Against SEC foes and two appearances versus Clemson, her ERA shot up to 4.94. In a relief effort against Alabama last season, she gave up 4 of 5 runs the Tide scored that day over two innings of work. Must be a Gut® thing.
• 2B/IF Salen Hawkins, So. – At Mississippi State last season, Hawkins had a .294 BA with 3 doubles, 3 homers and 26 RBI. ಠ_ಠ The batting average is nice but she doesn’t hit a lot of homers or steal bases (2-3), only 10 walks and 1 HBP. This pickup has got to have something to do with the fact that she was a high school teammate with Briski. Gut®. Hawkins started 52 games at second base for MSU in ‘24 and committed only 6 errors for a .962 FLD%. It’s an improvement over Heivilin who had 13 boots and a .946 FLD%.
• RHP Emily Winstead, Sr. – So, this young lady had a 13-8 record last season with a career-low 1.94 ERA in the circle while at UNC… Wilmington. Her opposition was not exactly the most challenging. In the two elite teams she faced, she entered at 0-0 game against Duke and was shelled for 4 runs in one inning and a fifth in the following inning. The second outing was a start at UGA that lasted three innings which yielded 6 runs. ಠ_ಠ On the bright side, Winstead tossed a career-high 140.2 innings with 142 strikeouts and a minuscule 33 walks. She twice had double digit Ks – 15 vs Towson and 12 vs Charleston.
• OF/C Alexis Pupillo, Jr. – Murphy went back to his alma mater of Northern Iowa to pick up this First Team All-MVC player. As a freshman, Pup hit .442 with 16 HR, 44 RBI, and scored 47 runs for the Panthers. In 2024, her numbers dropped to .324 and 40 runs, but her round-trippers increased to 19 and RBIs to 54. Her strikeouts dropped from 31 to 22 and walks went up from 20 to 32. Again, it is hard to judge these stats due to the opponents, but the Panthers did play plenty of SEC teams including Alabama. She went 1 for 2 versus Kayla Beaver. Against Auburn ace Maddie Penta, she hit a solo four bagger. She also knocked one out of the park against Arkansas. In one game against Arizona, she produced an RBI sac fly and stole two bases. In six games against those four teams, she hit .308 with two home runs and five RBI. Oddly enough, she was also hit by five pitches in those games. For UNI, she played both catcher and outfield. As a backstop, she had 8 passed balls which is not great. She also had 8 errors but most of them appeared to come while patrolling the outfield.

HALF-ASS PROGNOSTICATIONS

PITCHING

Expectations are that Briski steps it up in Year 2 and becomes the ace. With five pitchers on the roster, the Crimson Tide have plenty of candidates to audition for the No. 2 hurler but these tryouts cannot spread over into the regular season as the schedule gets tough right off the bat.

HITTING

Outside of Pupillo’s past performances, Alabama again does not seem to have anyone who appears to be a home run threat every time up to the plate. Last year, Murphy bragged about his “green light girls” who have the ‘go signal’ to steal bases at their own judgement. However, they swiped only 41 which was ranked 181st in the nation. Yet somehow, they still managed to get back to Oklahoma City.

OVERALL

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SCHEDULE

Right out of the gate, the Crimson Tide faces some stiff competition. Alabama returns to Arizona for another Candrea Classic. They will play five games in Tucson including two games against Washington and one versus Arizona. Of note, Kalen DeBoer’s daughter Alexis is a freshman for UW.

After a trip to the desert, there is no time relax as the Tide returns to the prestigious Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational in Florida. There they have a quartet of games against pesky Liberty, Ohio State, UCLA, and Oklahoma State.

Then, it is a special treat for the people of Hunstville as Bama takes on Jacksonville State in the home of minor league baseball’s Trash Pandas on February 19.

Finally on Feb 21, the Crimson Tide has their home opener in the annual Bama Bash highlighted by two against Virginia Tech. Next is the Crimson Classic with a bunch of cupcakes. The final OOC tournament is a new one to Tuscaloosa called the Spring Break Showdown. The first and fourth games will be against UL-Lafayette and their new head coach, Alyson Habetz. Also in that tournament is Iowa.

No late season slogs up to the Appalachian Mountains are planned this year but the Tide does have single midweek road games with South Alabama in Mobile, with North Alabama in Florence, and one with Alabama State in Montgomery. If they are not already sold out, don’t delay if you want to attend.

Florida State visits the Rhoads House for a single game on March 19.

The SEC schedule (3 games each) is as follows:

• vs Mississippi State
• at Texas A&M
• vs Georgia
• at LSU
• vs Oklahoma
• at Florida
• vs Missouri
• at South Carolina

So yeah. Bama faces the 7 or 8 of the top 8 or 9 teams this season. But at least they miss Texas!

#RollTide #Team29

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