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Softball: Alabama coaches relish return to Cajun Country

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, Feb.16, 2017

Alabama softball coaches Patrick Murphy and Alyson Habetz have been to 11 Women’s College World Series appearances and countless huge SEC weekend series together over the last two decades.

Never, though, have they experienced a weekend series like the one the Crimson Tide will enjoy Friday through Sunday at Lamson Park.

It’s a huge homecoming weekend in many ways for three members of the No. 4-ranked Crimson Tide, who will battle the No. 18-ranked UL Ragin’ Cajuns at 5 p.m. Friday and at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Murphy was an assistant coach at UL from 1990-94 after spending a year with the Cajuns’ sports information staff.

“I can’t wait to get there,” Murphy said on Tuesday. “They are the greatest people I’ve ever met there, just great people. They would do anything for you.”

Habetz grew up in Crowley, went to Notre Dame High and then embarked on a UL Hall of Fame career with the Cajuns as both a basketball and softball standout. She was an All-American softball player at UL in 1994.

“I can’t wait,” Habetz said Wednesday. “It’s going to be a great weekend. I wouldn’t trade my experience there for anything. I’m so proud to say I went there. In my mind, my experience there was like no other.”

Among the many memories that stick with Habetz was running onto the field in Oklahoma City for the Cajuns’ first Women’s College World Series game in 1993.

“It’s something I’ll never forget as long as I live,” Habetz said. “I still think about it sometimes and it gives me goose bumps every time. To walk out onto that field and see and hear all the Cajun fans standing and cheering us on was just an incredible feeling. I’ll never forget that feeling.”

There was nothing conventional about the routes either one took to the 1993 WCWS appearance. During her career at Notre Dame High, Habetz went to court in order to join the Pios’ baseball team when there was no softball program there at the time.

She then actually began her collegiate career as a basketball player, graduating as the program’s No. 4 all-time scorer with 1,192 points.

Murphy came to Lafayette because then-SID Dan McDonald gave him the best sports information position offer in 1988 after the Waterloo, Iowa native graduated from Northern Iowa.

“I wanted to experience something different and get out of the Midwest,” Murphy said. “USL gave me the best offer, so I went there.”

After handling duties in volleyball in the fall and softball in the spring — a season the Cajuns went 48-16 — coach Yvette Girouard ate lunch one day at Alesi’s Pizza House on Johnston Street and made him an offer.

In addition to handling SID duties, Girouard asked Murphy if he wanted to be assistant softball coach. He had coached some summer league high school baseball in Iowa, but never softball.

“I said, ‘Why not?’” Murphy laughed.

At the time, he had no way of knowing what was about to happen.

Murphy spent five seasons as Girouard’s assistant coach, left to be an interim head coach at NW Missouri State for one year in 1995 and then went to Alabama, where he began his head coaching career with the Crimson Tide in 1999.

“It is unreal,” said Murphy, who now has a career record of 975-275. “I owe it all to Dan McDonald for giving me a chance as a Division I SID and Yvette for giving me a chance as a Division I softball coach. Without those two, there’s no way I ever get close to where I am now.”

To say that Murphy hasn’t forgotten where his eventual Hall of Fame softball coaching career began would be an understatement.

Guess where the Alabama team plans to eat dinner Thursday night? You guessed it: Alesi’s Pizza House.

“I’ve asked if about 10 different restaurants are still there that I want to go eat at,” Murphy said.  “I’ve already (communicated) with Ole Tyme Grocery. I know there’s all kind of great food there, but I liked a lot of the pizza places there.”

For Habetz, the pre-planning has involved setting up a meeting with the Rev. Bryce Sibley at Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church on the campus, “where I spent an awful lot of time during my college career.”

She’s even arranged a time for the team to attend Mass.

There are also plans to attend Mardi Gras functions, which would be totally new experiences for practically the entire Alabama roster, other than a freshman from St. Thomas More named Bailey Hemphill, of course.

“It’s just going to be so special for both of us to show our Alabama family some things about our Cajun family,” Habetz said. “We both have some deep roots in Lafayette. We both love it.”

And of course, there has been numerous ticket requests.

“I finally had to say, ‘I don’t work there,’” Habetz laughed. “I don’t have access to a bunch of tickets.”

Although it’s going to be a weekend thinking back for Murphy and Habetz, part of it will be recognizing how much progress the program has made since they were hanging around on a daily basis back in 1994.

“From Girouard to Stef to Michael (Lotief), it’s incredible what the program has done,” Murphy said. “There are 13 SEC programs that weren’t playing softball when I was there (at UL), plus all kinds of schools in Texas.”

In fact, Murphy said he remembers where former Alabama A.D. Mal Moore set the bar when he got the job in Tuscaloosa 18 years ago.

“He told me that you can have a great season here and there, but to be a consistent winner at the Division I level is the greatest accomplishment,” Murphy said. “UL’s program has been incredibly consistent.”

Asked if she would have any interest one day in the future of returning to Lafayette as a coach, Habetz just laughed.

“I think he (Michael Lotief) is going to outlive us all,” Habetz said. “His perseverance through adversity has been so inspiring.

“To see how the program has continued the winning tradition over the years just makes me so proud. It’s amazing how they do it.”

Alabama at UL

Series: 5 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday.

Site: Lamson Park.

Records: Alabama 6-0; UL 4-2.

Rank: Alabama No. 4; UL No. 18.

Athletic Network footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas – click here for a photo of the 1992 USL Softball Team.