Alabama

What Caitlin Lowe and Arizona softball players said following win over Alabama

Published

11 months ago

February 9, 2025

What Caitlin Lowe and Arizona softball players said following win over Alabama

Arizona used a 7-run fifth inning to run rule Alabama 9-1 on Saturday night, improving to 4-1 on the season. The Wildcats play Washington, whom they lost to on Friday, to wrap up the weekend Sunday morning

You can find out recap here. Below is what head coach Caitlin Lowe, Emma Kavanagh, and Kaiah Altmeyer had to say following the win:

Lowe on the fifth inning performance: “I think you know they tend to catch fire offensively when they’re locked in like that. I think you can see it on the flip side, and you kind of saw that yesterday, but they were locked in. We talked a lot about composure in those big moments yesterday, and I saw a whole lot of people step up and do that today. You know, I think Ko and Kai and Logan. They’re, they’re always great examples. Reagan, but I saw it from Emma Kavanagh, a freshman. I saw it from Sydney Ste. I saw it from Devyn, kind of not having success, and then executing in her last step back there. Those are big moments for us, because if you can stack on top of that, then we’re going to keep getting better.”

On bouncing back from yesterday’s games: “Well, they learned from the loss. They got motivated by it, which is what you always want to see. The losses are, I don’t want to say good, but the losses, you know, you can take them a little bit easier when they’re learning from them. They grow from them, and they’re going to have a bad taste in their mouth about that one for a while. Just knowing that’s not the team that they are, and this is the team that they can be today. So I think that was important for them to respond from and really just be hungry for tomorrow too, and being that consistent team on a daily basis.”

On the crowd showing up, even with both basketball programs playing before and after: “Well, it means we scheduled appropriately, finally, because we normally conflict with a lot of sports. I will say that we did a deep dive into their schedules so that fans could beat everything. We know Tucson fans are die-hard fans, and they’re gonna get to whatever they can. Tucson just shows up for their sports, and I can’t say enough about our crowd today. I think it was one of the X factors of the game, and a reason why our players love playing here.”

On what former head coach Mike Candrea means to the program: “He sits right up there for most of our home games. He’s built this place in such a big way and still a huge part of our program. So our players are proud to work with him because of his standards that he set here. He still comes into the dugout and greets every single player on our team and they love having his presence around too. So we’re honored to have him throw out the first pitch every year, as long as we keep winning the games that he throws out the first pitch.”

On Miranda Stoddard and the pitching roles: “I mean, it’s huge. I have to say, last year did wonders for her, and the fact that she was able to get the ball so much in big moments, high leverage situations, and the growth that came from that was awesome. She stepped into this year a different person, so she wanted the ball, like, in a big, big way that was exciting. I think even more exciting too, was Ryan Maddox coming into that game, and absolutely in good matchups. I’ve just been so pleasantly surprised. Not even surprised, I can’t say I’m surprised, because just to have that composure as a freshman is huge, and it’s huge for us, and it just shows throughout our entire line.”

On the statement to beat Alabama: “I think Alabama is a great team. They have great hitting, great defense, and always great pitching. So I think being able to make adjustments off a really good pitcher in Briski was huge for us, and we struggled against Aaliyah Johnson when we went to Alabama last year, so to be able to execute against her felt like we were making steps in the right direction to kind of not make the game too big, but simplify in those moments. That’s what I saw today. Just everyone locked in. It didn’t matter if they got out their first step and they learned from it and got better in the next one. So that felt good, and mostly just the response from yesterday, when nobody really felt well, nobody really felt good about it. So to turn it around in a quick amount of time says a lot about a good team.

Altmeyer on the win, and the fifth inning: “I’ve just been seeing the ball. I just was glad to be in a position where I could do that for my team. Yeah, it just feels good. We needed that one. I think just passing the bat, that’s like our motto, like, give the bat to the next person. I think I was just the one. I was waiting for that moment and just did what I could.”

On Stoddard’s performance: “That’s huge for her to put up zeros. I mean, just gives the offense more of just, I think, confidence to know that it’s kind of up to us and gives the momentum on our side, and just chipping away and passing the bat. I think just translating what we saw pitch to pitch just helps our team, better get more numbers up on the board.

On freshman stepping up: “It’s awesome. I think just being freshmen and not having the experience that us upperclassmen do at the college level and being able to get hits against these big teams is huge.”

Kavanagh on the win: “I think we caught fire after a tough loss yesterday, we came back and coach Cait fired us up with a pre-game speech, and I think the whole team needed to hear it. I feel like our pitcher stepped on the mound and was ready to go, and that fired us all up. A double play kind of early on, set the tone, and I felt as hitters, we prepped last month, even two months after we got back from winter break, just for that moment.”

On facing Washington again: “Pumped the win today, I know is going to feed into tomorrow, and I know as a team, we’re going to show up like we did today, but tomorrow, and it’ll be fantastic. I feel really good coming in tomorrow.”

On the crowd atmosphere: “I love Tucson fans. They’re fantastic. You’ll find them nowhere else. I know that we have the greatest fans in the country who will travel with us and stay here wherever we go.”

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Alabama

Tuberville officially files for 2026 Alabama governor’s race

Published

10 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Tuberville officially files for 2026 Alabama governor’s race

HOOVER, Ala. (WSFA) – Senator Tommy Tuberville officially filed the paperwork to run for governor at the Alabama Republican Party Headquarters in Hoover Monday morning.

“I want to make the lives of the people of this state better,” said Sen. Tuberville. “If I thought that staying in the U.S. Senate would be best for Alabama, I would’ve stayed. but I think the best thing for Alabama is for me to come back.”

He talked about the need to grow Alabama’s economy, with attracting manufacturers being a primary focus. Sen. Tuberville said that to do that, he would focus on improving the state’s infrastructure and making the state’s education and workforce systems more attractive to new residents.

When asked about cutting waste, fraud and abuse, a focus of his time in Washington, D.C., alongside President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, Sen. Tuberville said, he expects to make changes if elected governor.

“You have a lot of different agencies here, we want to make them all better,” he said. “We also want to make sure that we save the taxpayers’ money, that we use it wisely and we give it back to them.”

The former Auburn football coach said he did not expect to go into politics, but now, he is ready to transition from national to state politics.

“It’s time to come home, put together a staff and worry about the state of Alabama and the people here,” he said.

According to Alabama’s constitution, someone running for governor has to have lived in the state for at least seven years. Some have questioned whether Sen. Tuberville fits that requirement. He said during the candidacy filing that the Republican Party of Alabama says he does fulfill the requirement.

The filing deadline for candidates to qualify for a major political party is Jan. 23.

Alabama’s Democratic primary has the following candidates:

Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones
Dr. Will Boyd – businessman and engineer
JaMel Brown – pastor and talk show host
Chad ‘Chig’ Martin – businessowner

Alabama’s Republican Primary has the following candidates:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville
Ken McFeeters – former congressional candidate

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Alabama

Who has Alabama football lost in the transfer portal so far?

Published

22 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Who has Alabama football lost in the transfer portal so far?

Alabama football has already seen some of its roster clear out via the transfer portal in the days following its loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide will likely see more attrition in the coming days, with players allowed to enter through Jan. 16.

As of Monday morning, 15 Alabama players had entered the portal. Here’s a look at what the Crimson Tide is losing via transfer.

Cam Calhoun

The Utah transfer was a backup cornerback for the Crimson Tide this season. He played a major role on special teams but had trouble cracking the lineup on defense for Alabama.

Calhoun began his college career at Michigan

Rico Scott

Scott was perhaps the fastest receiver on the team, but there were too many players on the depth chart ahead of him. Scott finished the year with 11 catches for 55 yards.

Keon Keeley

When he arrived in Tuscaloosa, Keeley was one of the nation’s top recruits, at the edge position. After a year with the Tide, he moved over to the more traditional defensive end spot that Kane Wommack calls the “bandit.”

Keeley finally was able to make an impact on the field this year after two season on the bench. He likely could have played an increased role with LT Overton off to the NFL, but opted to portal instead.

Wilkin Formby

Formby moved around in Alabama’s lineup during the 2025 season, his first as a full-time starter. He began the year at tackle, but wound up playing right guard as Michael Carroll took over the outside spot.

Cole Adams

Adams was the Crimson Tide’s primary punt returner. However, he didn’t have much of a role at wide receiver.

The Oklahoma native had five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown this season.

Micah DeBose

DeBose joined Alabama as a highly touted recruit before the 2025 season. He saw action in just one game for the Crimson Tide this year, against Eastern Illinois.

Peter Notaro

The Alabama kicking game was an issue at times during the 2025 season. Notaro battled with Conor Talty for the starting job in preseason camp, but Talty eventually earned the spot.

Notaro was a five-star kicker in the 2025 recruiting class according to Kohl’s.

Noah Carter

Carter was a four-star edge recruit for the Crimson Tide ahead of the 2024 season. He redshirted that season, but got more action in 2025.

He finished the year with nine total tackles before deciding to find greener pastures.

Olaus Alinen

Alinen was not a major part of what was an extremely large offensive line rotation this season. The member of Alabama’s 2023 recruiting class earned the most praise from coaches due to his versatility, with the native of Finland able to play both guard and tackle.

Jalen Hale

Hale was a contributor at receiver in 2023, before a major leg injury cost him the 2024 campaign. He returned in 2025, but wasn’t able to get significant playing time at receiver given the amount of talent ahead of him.

Joseph Ionata

Ionata was listed as Alabama’s backup center during the 2025 season. However, when it came down to it, Geno VanDeMark slid to the spot if Parker Brailsford needed to leave the field.

The redshirt freshman did see some playing time on special teams.

Jaylen Mbakwe

Mbakwe joined Alabama as a five-star prospect in the 2024 class and proceeded to have an interesting career in Tuscaloosa. He spent most of 2024 as a defensive back, before deciding to enter the transfer portal, then backing out and switching to wide receiver before the ReliaQuest Bowl.

He stuck at wideout for 2025, without seeing major playing time at that position.

Richard Young

Some turnover among Alabama’s running backs came as no surprise. Young was thought of as a potential starter at running back, but got lost in a struggling rotation.

He finished 2025 with 23 carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns.

Roq Montgomery

Montgomery did not see the field during the 2025 season. He had been a special teams contributor in 2024, and saw some snaps on the offensive line as well.

Kam Howard

Howard spent two seasons as a cornerback in Tuscaloosa after transferring in from Charlotte. He didn’t play much in 2025, finishing the year with two tackles.

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Alabama

A major overhaul ahead for the Alabama Crimson Tide offensive line

Published

1 day ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

A major overhaul ahead for the Alabama Crimson Tide offensive line

The first phase of good news for the Alabama Crimson Tide is happening. While indications are the two best Alabama offensive linemen will move to the NFL, there are eight other (and counting) offensive linemen who not return for the 2026 season. Three are out of eligibility: Jaeden Roberts, Kam Dewberry, and Geno Van DeMark. Five more are portal entries: Micah DeBose, Joe Ionata, Olaus Alinen, Roq Montgomery, and Wilkin Formby.

Why is the attrition good news? There are two reasons. Kalen DeBoer’s offensive lines have needed skill sets in short supply the last two seasons. His offense needs agile, quick-footed offensive linemen. Not many Alabama football fans will disagree, but for those who do, when two late-season games (Georgia and Indiana) are lost by a combined 56 points, a major overhaul is required.

For an offensive line overhaul, the Crimson Tide needed to free up roster slots, to improve talent, and reallocate money. The count of returning offensive linemen (as of late afternoon on Jan. 4) is six: Mike Carroll, Casey Poe, Jackson Lloyd, Mal Waldrep, Red Sanders, and Arkel Anugwon. In addition, the 2026 class added five more: Tyrell Miller (JUCO), Jared Doughty, Chris Booker, Bear Fretwell, and Bryson Cooley

Next for the Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama could get lucky and have Parker Brailsford decide to play another season of college ball. Assuming that luck will not occur, three or four offensive linemen need to be added through the Portal. At least two of them need to be tabbed as near-locks to start in next fall’s season opener.

So far, the only target known publicly is Texas State center, Brock Riker. New targets are expected to surface soon, some of whom may not be in the portal yet. According to Yahoo Sports, Riker has been targeted by at least nine Power Four programs, with more offers expected soon.

The large number of transfer exits may be an indication that offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic will also move on. Many Alabama football fans are looking forward to DeBoer bringing in a new OL coach.

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