The University of Alabama softball team has added another arm to next year’s freshman class, signing junior college pitcher Courtney Gettins of Hastings, New Zealand, to a letter of intent.
Gettins will give the Crimson Tide more pitching depth. UA will graduate Sydney Littlejohn at the end of the current season, with Alexis Osorio expected to return as a senior next year along with Madi Moore, a lefty who will be a junior. Gettins is a right-hander, while Madison Preston, a pitcher from Centralia, Mo., who will arrive next season as a freshman, is a left-hander.
Gettins plays at Florida Southwestern, a two-year school in Fort Myers, and last weekend led the school to its first state championship and a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Softball Championship, which will be played later this month in St. George, Utah.
“We are very excited to have Courtney join our softball family this fall,” UA head coach Patrick Murphy said in a statement. “She comes from a tremendous softball pedigree and will be our first international student-athlete at Alabama. She has led her junior college team to nationals two years in a row while pitching for Coach Robert Iamurri.”
Iamurri is the father of former UA infielder Ryan Iamurri.
Gettins has a 31-0 record with a 0.96 earned-run average over 197 2/3 innings with 198 strikeouts and 33 walks this season. She was named national pitcher of the year last season as a freshman while also earning junior college All-America honors with a 39-6 record and 1.45 ERA.
She has played internationally with the New Zealand national team. In 2013 and 2015 she played in the Junior Women’s World Series, and in 2014 and 2016 she played in the Senior Women’s World Championship.
Gettins is the sixth signee for next season’s incoming class. She will join Kyra Lockhard, a power hitter from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, who now lives and plays in Duluth, Georgia; Maddie Morgan, a left-handed hitter and utility infielder from Linwood, Washington; Kendall Beth Sides, a left-handed leadoff batter and outfielder from Dora who plays at Sumiton Christian; Kaylee Tow, a left-handed power hitter from Madisonville, Kentucky; and fellow pitcher Preston.
