Crimson Red Sports

Had the opportunity to head to T-town for the softball Fan appreciation day today.  Met up with Jamos (always a good time) and with him and my daughter that plays softball we got to tour the incredible indoor practice facility.  Did I mention that it is incredible?  Coach Murphy was our tour guide and you could just hear the excitement in his voice as he spoke with us.  We then got to meet & greet the entire roster of players, take pics and get autographs.  Each and every one of them was as nice and professional as you might expect.  They seemed to be genuinely interested in us (mainly my daughter) and they were very thankful for everyone showing up on such a cold blustery day.  The team divided up into "Crimson" and "Gray" and had a 5 inning scrimmage game.  Littlejohn pitched the entire game for the gray team and she was outstanding.  She actually reminded me of Traina her first two years playing for Bama.  Jury was the starting pitcher for the Crimson team and did well for a couple of innings.  She walked one batter in the second.  J-Train came in to pitch in the 3rd.  Our hitting was really good too.  In the third inning J. Patterson beat the brakes off of J-Train.  Coach had her bat in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings (obvious to me that he wanted her to go to the plate to see how strong her bat was.  She got good hits in the 3rd and 4th but Jackie finally got the best of her in the 5th.  Jackie had a pretty rough 3rd giving up 6 runs.  I am still not sure if she is still a bit off her game or if our hitters are just that much better this year.  I'm betting on the latter.  Should be fun to watch them again this year.  I have no doubts that they won't make it back to the WCWS.  Wouldn't surprise me to see them win it again...  Yeah, I think they are that good.

I forgot to mention, my daughter was counting HR's during the batting practice just prior to the game.  The girls hit 49 with several MONSTER hits.  I think there was 3 or 4 that went directly over the score board and J-Train smashed one that stirred up the dust when it hit the sand/gravel/dirt on top of the berm beyond the center field fence...

Good report. Sounds like y'all had a good time.

Can you take a guess at who will be starting at each position?

Yes, we did have a good time and I wish all of you that like softball could have been there with us.

I don't think there is a solid lineup at this moment, there are some positions that seem to be set but others, that will depend on what happens in the weeks to come. CPM hinted to us the other night that lineups will vary from game to game depending on who is hot and who is not. One thing is for certain, McCleney lead off the batting order and Hawkins will bat ninth. This goes back to last year in one of our discussions, CPM wants some runners on base for the top of the batting order.

Bama probably has more talent from top to bottom on their roster than they have ever had, and they have had some good ones in past years. The incoming freshmen are battling for starting positions and this gives CPM many options for his game to game lineups. I will give a list of where the players are likely to play this season and again, there will be changes in the lineup from game to game.

Pitchers: Traina, Jury, Littlejohn (F)
First base: Spencer, Lafaele
2nd base: Hunt, Case, Iamurri, Dare (F)
SS: Hayes, Runyon (F)
3rd base: Richards, Grantham
Catcher: Fitchner, Bell, Patterson
Outfield: McCleney (CF), Hawkins (RF), Spencer, Lafaele, Case, Dare (F)

The pitchers looked a little rusty yesterday but that is to be expected and the bats were booming as is the case sometimes in the early season. CPM worked on his game stratergy yesterday, batters trying to drive the ball in the gaps with runners on base with much success. They also worked on base running, trying to correct some of their base running mistakes from last year.

Bama will play Troy University in the very near future. The game will be free of charge to get in and I thinkl it will be played on a Saturday but not sure yet. Mrs. J and I will probably make that trip and maybe some of you that never get a chance to come to T-town to watch the team might can join us there.

Thanks Jamos. That is about what I thought the position players look like. It is nice to have competition at all positions.

I accidently posted my reply before I was finished :-[

I made a boo boo in my earlier post.

(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3Nno0V3YU-gLekpqoGMBmtcN2ocCP7YYNUQT1oRZd8PxjY4J6)

Thanks NALT and Jamos for your reports.

Opening day can't get here fast enough for me.