Wednesday night, Alabama softball completed a 3-2 comeback victory against Samford at Rhoads Stadium, earning head coach Patrick Murphy his 1,200th victory as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
With the 1,200th win, Murphy is the ninth head coach in NCAA history to accomplish such a feat at one Division I program. He is the only coach with over 1,000 wins entirely at an SEC school. Eleven other coaches have surpassed the 1,200-win total entirely at the Division I level, but only Murphy has accomplished the milestone at one single program.
"To be at the same program for 27 years, it just does not happen in college athletics anymore, anywhere in any sport," said Murphy after winning his 1,200th game. "To be able to be here from day one to today is just amazing. It all starts with my associate head coach Aly who has been with me for all 25 years as head coach. That's unheard of as well. The loyalty and the continuity of the coaching staff is huge. Our strength coach Michelle Diltz, this is year 18 for her. The fact that everyone knows what's going to happen with our staff and being consistent, I think it's really helped us out. Obviously, all of the athletic directors I have worked for have been terrific and supported this program from day one, so it's been a dream come true."
Alabama and Samford remained scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when a fielding error by the Crimson Tide let the Bulldogs score two unearned runs and take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Alabama cut the lead in half by way of an RBI double from Bailey Dowling.
Alabama threatened to score again in the fifth but stranded a couple of runners in scoring position, continuing to trail by one run. Abby Duchscherer started off the sixth inning for the Tide with a leadoff walk, followed by a single from Dowling, to put two runners on with nobody out.
Murphy brought in Ally Shipman to pinch hit, and she delivered an RBI single into right field to tie the game at two apiece. Three batters later, Kenleigh Cahalan ripped an RBI single up the middle, extending her hit streak to nine games and giving the Crimson Tide their first lead of the game. Jaala Torrence closed the game in the seventh and earned the 3-2 win courtesy of three scoreless innings of relief.
Next up for Alabama is the Easton Bama Bash in Tuscaloosa, starting Friday and finishing up on Sunday. Over the course of the weekend, Alabama will play a total of five games, two games apiece against Kennesaw State and Southeastern Louisiana, as well as one game against Indiana State.
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