The Alabama Crimson Tide softball team advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals with a 2-1 win in 10 innings over Texas A&M on Thursday.
And Crimson Tide head coach Pat Murphy said the team was inspired by a pregame pep talk from Alabama’s head football coach, Nick Saban (via SEC Country):
“Coach Saban came to talk to us and said, ‘Are you going to dominate for half a game, three-quarters, 58 minutes or 60 minutes,” said Murphy, whose Alabama team beat Texas A&M 2-1 in 10 innings.
Murphy said that he’d been waiting for the right year to have Saban speak to the team, and that the team “really needed [Saban] this year”:
“This was the first time he spoke to the whole team, because I said I’m waiting for a year when I really need him, and we really needed him this year,” said Murphy, who’s team is ranked No. 15 and entered the SEC Tournament at Tennessee as the No. 5 seed.
“It’s his confidence, as soon as he left, it was like there was an air of confidence filling the room,” he said. “Everybody goes through the same things; it doesn’t matter if it’s football players, basketball players or softball players. They’re all 18- to 22-year-olds, we’re all dealing with the same issues.”
The Crimson Tide got 10 outstanding innings (a no-hitter through six) from Alexis Osorio, and Saban actually played a part in recruiting the pitcher. Murphy claims that Saban is “4-for-4” in recruiting softball players to Alabama:
Saban, in fact, helped in the recruitment of Osorio by talking with her father, a huge NFL fan.
Murphy said Saban is “4-for-4” in helping Alabama softball land recruits.
Alabama (42-15) will play Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday, after the game was rained out Friday.
