Alabama opens the Women's College World Series against No. 8 UCLA on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2, bringing a 54-7 record and a pitching staff that has blunted opponents all postseason. The Crimson Tide reached Oklahoma City after beating LSU in two super regional games by a combined 11-1, and coach Patrick Murphy now takes a team that has not looked rattled in weeks into the sport's biggest stage.
Murphy has built the program into a permanent threat, with a 1,371-403 career record and Alabama's best WCWS finish still the national title it won in 2012. This group has its own case to make. Alabama has posted a 0.21 ERA in the postseason so far, with Jocelyn Briski going 23-3 with a 1.03 ERA and 17 scoreless innings plus 23 strikeouts in the postseason. Vic Moten has been just as tough at times, going 21-4 with a 1.66 ERA while allowing one run and seven baserunners in 10 innings. Add the offense from Audrey Vandagriff, Jena Young and Alexis Pupillo, who have combined for six postseason home runs and 17 RBIs, and Alabama arrives with more than just momentum.
The schedule, though, also points to the first real test of whether the Tide can keep all of that together against a deeper field. Brook Wells leads the team with 23 home runs for the season, but she is 3-for-18 in the NCAA tournament with eight strikeouts and nine left on base. Alabama ranks 195th out of 308 Division I teams with a 14.1% strikeout rate this season, and the individual swing-and-miss numbers are higher for some of its key bats, including Ambrey Taylor at 23.4%, Audrey Vandagriff at 19.0%, Marlie Giles at 17.0% and Wells at 14.6%. That makes the opener against UCLA more than a bracket entry; it is the first chance to see whether Alabama's pitching can carry a lineup that has been productive, but not spotless, into a tournament where mistakes tend to show up fast.
The wider field only sharpens that pressure. Oklahoma, the dynasty, is not in Oklahoma City. Texas Tech is back as the defending runner-up, Texas is the defending champion, and the bracket is crowded with heavyweights and plenty of SEC teams. Alabama has the résumé to belong there. Thursday will show whether the Tide can turn the clean numbers from the postseason into another long stay at the WCWS, or whether the opening game becomes the first place the run meets resistance.
