Alabama softball uses CFP snub to troll Florida State after victory
Wednesday night, Alabama softball went to Tallahassee and handed Florida State a 4-1 loss. The Crimson Tide improved to 21-3 with the victory as they get ready to resume SEC play – but the social media team made waves afterward.
Alabama softball’s X (formerly Twitter) page used the Seminoles’ College Football Playoff snub to troll the program in a post after the game. That stems from the CFP committee’s decision in December to rank the Crimson Tide fourth in the final rankings while an undefeated FSU team, which won the ACC title, was ranked fifth and headed to the Orange Bowl against Georgia.
“Can’t blame the committee tonight,” the post read, along with a smirking emoji.
Alabama got some big performances from Kayla Beaver and Alea Johnson in the circle. They combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball – FSU only scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth – while allowing just three hits.
Abby Duchscherer got the scoring started for the Tide in the first inning with a two-out home run, followed by an RBI single from Bailey Dowling to make it a 2-0 ballgame. After Florida State cut the lead to 2-1, Kali Heivilin hit a two-run home run to right-center field to extend Alabama’s lead to 4-1 in the sixth inning. That held to be the final score as the Crimson Tide got their 21st victory of the year with conference play about to ramp up.
Alabama got off to a rough start to the month of March, dropping its first game of the season to South Alabama on March 2. A week later, the Crimson Tide lost back-to-back games to Florida before winning the third game of the series to avoid the sweep. That set the table for the win over Florida State to potentially start a new winning streak.
“You have to have short term memory when it comes to softball,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said after the Florida victory. “If you let setbacks or losses linger, that’s never good. I’ve had to learn that the hard way over my coaching career. If I don’t get over it, the players won’t get over it. You just have to start fresh. I think our group realizes that the game against Alabama is circled on everyone’s calendar. It doesn’t matter who they are.
“We have to bring our best every single game because we’re getting everybody else’s best. [Kayla] Beaver pitched great tonight and I think a lot of people overlook her defense. She has been terrific defensively, especially tonight.”