The Extra Point: How Concerning is Alabama Softball's Start to SEC Play?

Spring has arrived and April is fast approaching which means it's the beginning of crunch time for college baseball and softball teams.

The Alabama softball team wrapped up its second SEC series over the weekend against Tennessee and through the first six games in conference play, the results have been concerning.

The Crimson Tide opened SEC competition with a home series against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Patrick Murphy's squad was able to win the first game behind a Montana Fouts shutout but then proceeded to lost the next two games by a combined three runs. 

Alabama then traveled to Knoxville this past weekend to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, one of the nation's top ranked teams. The Crimson Tide once again was only able to win one out of three, this time losing the two games by a total of four runs. 

For a team with high expectations like Alabama softball, the results of those two series are certainly not satisfactory. 

While this Crimson Tide team certainly has a lot of talent, the same issues that plagued the team early in the season are still hurting them currently; namely a lack of consistent pitching and the inability to pass the bat down.

It has been a struggle all season to get consecutive shutdown outings from the Alabama pitching staff. It seems that if ace Montana Fouts has a great game, the rest of the pitchers struggle the next day, and vice versa.  

All of the Crimson Tide pitchers have shown the ability to hold opponents down but will need to become more consistent if this team wants to make noise in the postseason.

The biggest problem for Alabama, however, has been the lineup's inability to get runners on base and keep the inning going. The hitters have proven they can hit with power but haven't shown they can consistently string together multiple hits.

A good example of this was Sunday's game against Tennessee. Alabama scored five runs in the game but was only able to muster six hits. 

While there's still plenty of time to gain momentum, the Crimson Tide's early results in SEC are a sign of concern and show there's a lot to improve on if they hope to have success both in the SEC and in the postseason.

Watch the video at the top of the page where BamaCentral's Clay Miller and Katie Windham discuss Alabama's start to SEC competition.

See Also:

Alabama Baseball Wins Series Finale on Wild Eighth-Inning Sequence Against Kentucky

Report: Alabama Basketball Scheduling Neutral-Site Matchup vs. Arizona

No. 13 Alabama Softball Loses Game 3, Series at No. 3 Tennessee