The 2020 Alabama softball team will have the best pitching rotation it’s ever had.
Maybe.
Montana Fouts, last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year, second-team All-American and Women’s College World Series All-Tournament Team member, could miss the Crimson Tide’s 2020 season if she is selected by Team USA to the Olympic team.
The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are in Tokyo and Fouts was one of eight pitchers invited to try out for the team. She spent this past summer as part of the Under-19 USA Women’s National Team, which won a gold medal at the Women’s World Cup in California.
The Team USA roster will be announced Sunday. If she makes the team it will have a major impact on Alabama’s season.
“If Montana makes the Olympic team she redshirts,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “I would bet on that she’s going to make the team but you never know. They only invited eight pitchers. She had such a good summer; they were impressed by her all summer long.”
Murphy said even though the Olympics aren’t until the summer, Team USA will spend the months leading up to the Tokyo Games playing against various college teams from around the country.
“It’s been a dream of hers and a dream of all of ours,” Murphy said. “It would be a big difference (with our team). But she would be a huge asset to Team USA. We would be really happy for her.”
Other pitchers trying out for Team USA are Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, Keilani Ricketts, Ally Carda, Carley Hoover, along with UCLA pitchers Rachel Garcia and Megan Faraimo.
“There are several other college girls that are trying out, so we are not the only one in that boat,” Murphy said.
If Fouts doesn’t make the team, Alabama will have Fouts, SEC Pitcher of the Year Sarah Cornell, Kystal Goodman and incoming freshman Lexi Kilfoyl, who was with Fouts this summer on the U-19 national team.
“The four of them together would be the best pitching staff we’ve ever had,” Murphy said. “The four of them together, it’s really going to be fun to see.”
Reach Edwin Stanton at 205-722-0226, edwin.stanton@tuscaloosanews.com or via Twitter, @edwinstantonu2
