Across the Diamond: Alabama Softball Heads to Hawaii

Alabama softball takes a 25-0 record to Honolulu, Hawaii, for their final non-conference weekend of the season.

Rainbow Wahine Classic

Alabama will play six games over the course of four days in the University of Hawaii's Rainbow Wahine Classic.

The Crimson Tide will SIUE, Niagara and Hawaii two teams each from Wednesday through Saturday with a Wednesday 6 PM first pitch against SIUE to open the week.

While Hawaii has played all but one weekend of the season at home, both SIUE and Niagara have been on the road for all of their games to date. For the Purple Eagles, this will be their second consecutive week of playing in the state of Hawaii.

Record wise, the tournament opponents for Alabama have experience a varying degree of success over the first month of the season. Niagara has lost all of seven of their games, SIUE has split their first 14 games and Hawaii has won 16 of their first 22.

Two players that could provide interesting matchups for the Crimson Tide's pitchers are Hawaii's Nicole Lopez and Callie Heen. The duo have combined for 15 of the team's 26 round triples with Lopez swatting seven home runs while Heen has eight out of the yard.

Historic SEC Opener

While maintaining their perfect record for the season, Alabama got off to a picture perfect start to their Southeastern Conference schedule.

The Crimson Tide swept Missouri at the Rhoads Stadium with a historic double header sweep Friday night.

In game one of the twin, bill Montana Fouts shut down Missouri in a 3-1 win to open SEC play. The victory gave Patrick Murphy his 400th SEC win and become the first coach in the conference to get to the 400 mark.

The Tigers roared back in game two by building a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the second. Following a two-run bottom of the second for Alabama and a one-run top of the third for Missouri, the Crimson Tide offense took over by scoring the final 12 runs of the game. Bailey Hemphill, Kaylee Tow and Claire Jenkins each homered in the 14-8 win in game two of Friday's twin bill.

Montana Fouts Wins SEC Freshman of the Week

In what has been an impressive start to her Alabama career, true freshman took home SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season.

The Grayson, Kentucky, native earned two wins and a save in appearances against Missouri and South Alabama. In 13 innings from the circle, Fouts allowed three earned runs, six hits and four  walks while striking out 13.

Alabama Climbs the National Rankings

With their three-game sweep of Missouri, Alabama climbed to No. 4 in both the NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball top 25 polls.

The ranking is the program's best ranking since week 13 of the 2016 season.

Rainbow Wahine Classic Schedule (All times CDT)

Wednesday

Alabama vs. SIUE 6 PM

Thursday

Alabama vs. Niagara 6 PM

Alabama vs. SIUE 8:30 PM

Friday

Alabama vs. Niagara 6 PM

Alabama vs. Hawaii 11 PM

Saturday

Alabama vs. Hawaii 7 PM