Staff Photo/Erin Nelson
Patrick Murphy likes to say tradition never graduates.
The head coach of the University of Alabama softball team adopted that motto somewhere along the way as the program grew from a startup playing in public parks into a national power.
The Crimson Tide's softball tradition grew a bit more with Saturday's 5-2 victory over Washington in front of a crowd of 3,443 at Rhoads Stadium. Alabama (51-12) won the best-of-three super regional with a two-game sweep of the Huskies (39-14) to advance to next week's Women's College World Series.
This year's trip to Oklahoma City – where sixth-seeded Alabama will face third-seeded Oklahoma in a first-round matchup next Thursday – will be the 11th in the program's 20-year history.