First Pitch: 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide Softball Opens in Arizona

Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

Alabama softball comes into this season with a lot of question marks as coach Patrick Murphy attempts to rebuild. With so many new faces on the team, they will need to figure things out pretty quick as big challenges face them in the opening weekend.

SEC

Of the four preseason polls, Alabama was positioned No. 11 in three of them. The SEC coaches do not exactly agree with that ranking. The league’s 15 head coaches released their annual preseason poll and picked the Tide to finish 10th in the conference. In addition, Bama placed only one player, pitcher Jocelyn Briski, on the 24 player Preseason All-SEC Softball Team.

1. Texas (7)
2. Florida (6)
3. Oklahoma (2)
4. Tennessee
5. Texas A&M
6. LSU
7. Arkansas
8. Georgia
9. Missouri
10. Alabama
11. Kentucky
12. Mississippi State
13. Auburn
14. Ole Miss
15. South Carolina

TICKETS

Season tickets and single game tickets are still available. I can’t exactly recall what season tix were priced last year, but this year they are $99 plus a $20 “Order Charge”. I could be wrong but that number seems like a big increase and it’s not surprising that they have not sold out by now.

CANDREA CLASSIC

The Crimson Tide is back in Arizona for the tournament named after the legendary Wildcats coach Mike Candrea who was forced out retired in 2021. It’s homecoming for three Tide players as pitcher Jocelyn Briski, catcher Riley Valentine, and newbie infielder Salen Hawkins are all from Phoenix. The games take place 100+ miles down the road in Tuscon, but the entire team took the scenic route through the neighborhood of high school teammates Briski and Hawkins to the former’s house for dinner on Thursday evening. (Valentine who went to a different high school.) At least it’s not a midweek trip to Appalachia in April.

SCHEDULE

One of the sad things about the PAC-12 implosion is the demolition of the history of the sport of softball in the conference. Bama will face two former PAC powerhouse teams that are not even in the same league anymore. Washington now plays in the Big Ten, while Arizona is in the Big 12. UCLA and Oregon are also in the B1G, but the opportunities for them to face Arizona are few and far between.

• Friday, Feb 7 vs Washington10:30 a.m. CT
• Friday, Feb 7 vs Michigan State 1 p.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb 8 vs Washington 10:30 a.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb 8 at Arizona 6 p.m. CT
• Sunday, Feb 9 vs Western Michigan 10 a.m. CT

HOW TO WATCH… ALLEGEDLY

Welp, here we go again. All games outside of the one game vs Arizona will be on FloSoftball which is a paid subscription ($29.99 a month or $150 for the year. Yeah… NO!). The Arizona game will be on ESPN+ which is also subscription service.

WASHINGTON

Much like the Tide, the Huskies have experienced a serious roster overhaul. If you think the new transfer rules have f****d up college football, college softball would like you to hold their beer. UW lost 12 players from the 2024 roster, including the top eight hitters in the lineup and every member of the pitching staff. It is tough to get a handle on what this team might bring to the table. Only one poll have the Dogs ranked (#23). Freshman Alexis DeBoer is a likely starter somewhere in the infield.

ARIZONA

The Wildcats were plagued by injuries on the pitching staff in 2024. This season, they are all back and healthy. Also back are junior outfielder Dakota Kennedy who was named D1 Softball’s preseason All-America First Team and sophomore Regan Shockey who had a big freshman campaign (.411 BA). The ‘Cats are ranked #12/14/16/17 are should be a solid team this year.

This is a new one on me: Newly married Miranda Stoddard is back for the Wildcats. The former Kentucky pitcher/infielder transferred to ‘Zona a year ago to be closer to her hometown of Anaheim, CA and found herself getting hitched in the off-season.

MICHIGAN STATE

Sparty was pretty awful last season (21-30 overall, 7-16 B1G) and are picked to finish 14th in the Big Ten this year. They have not made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004.

WESTERN MICHIGAN

The Broncos were 27-22 last season. The MAC picked them to finish second to last in the conference this year.

WEATHER

Tucson is expecting mostly sunny skies and highs in 70s over the weekend.

LOWDOWN

Team29 is getting thrown right into the fire to start off the season. The only certainties are that Kristen White will start in centerfield and that Jocelyn Briski will make an appearance in the circle. Other than those two observations, anything could happen.

With all the uncertainty surrounding Alabama this year, there is no reason to discount any opponent this season. In theory, WMU should not be a problem. UW is in full rebuild mode. Arizona is a solid club playing at home. It would be a fool’s errand to try to predict the outcome of the weekend. That said, anything less than three wins would be highly disappointing.

#RollTide #Team29