Across the Diamond: Patrick Murphy Reflects on Winning the Tuscaloosa Regional

For the 15th consecutive season, Alabama softball advanced to the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament with an opening day win over Alabama State followed by a pair of wins over Arizona State.

This weekend, the ninth seeded Texas Longhorns come in for a best two out of three super regional series beginning Thursday.

To begin the week, head coach Patrick Murphy looked back on the regional weekend on The Gary Harris Show.

The Alabama head softball coach began his conversation with Gary Harris by sharing the emotions he experienced during a back-and-forth contest against Arizona.

"It was so exhausting. It was exhilarating and then heartbreaking and then back to exhilarating. The last inning was as nerve-racking as I've ever felt in a game." Murphy said.

One of the biggest plays of the season came with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning as Bailey Hemphill swatted the second pitch of her at bat past the scoreboard in left-center field to tie the game at 5-5.  Murphy discussed how pitching to Hemphill was potentially a key strategical error for Arizona State.

"My assistant Brynne Dordell, who was a pitcher in college, and we went to dinner last night and the fist thing she said to everybody at the table was,' I would have walked her.' You only give up one run. You walk in a run it's 5-2, and then you deal with the next two or three." Murphy said.

Find out in the video link what Murphy had to say about the contributions from Elissa Brown and KB Sides, the atmosphere at the game and his initial thoughts about Texas coming into Tuscaloosa.

Catch The Gary Harris Show every weekday from 9-11 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the Tide 102.9 app.