TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As the crowd inside Rhoads Stadium roared, an exuberant Montana Fouts put her hands to her knees before spiking her glove to the ground in a mixture of celebration and relief.

With Alabama softball clinging to a 1-0 lead against Middle Tennessee State in the if-necessary game of the Tuscaloosa Regional on Sunday, the injured ace watched as Jaala Torrence closed out a complete-game shutout to send the Crimson Tide to its 17th super regional in 18 years.

Fouts hasn’t pitched since injuring her leg on May 12 during the SEC Tournament. After stating his ace was unavailable on Saturday, Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said Fouts could have pitched in Sunday’s must-win game. It turns out she wasn’t needed, as Torrence earned her third win of the regional, giving up five hits and a walk while striking out eight batters over seven shutout innings.

“It was a possibility to use Montana,” Murphy said. “She threw at about 11 or 10 o’clock this morning, threw all out. We talked to Dr. [Lyle] Cain, with her parents, everybody in a Zoom. Then she warmed up in maybe the third or fourth inning just to see how it felt.”

Alabama and MTSU entered the seventh inning locked in a scoreless battle before Crimson Tide catcher Ally Shipman lined the first pitch she saw over the left field wall. That set up an interesting situation for Murphy heading into the bottom half of the inning.

Should he stick with the hot hand in Torrence or give the ball to his injured ace to close things out? Ultimately, he decided to go with the former.

“[Torrence] was just dominating,” Murphy said. “I’ve never had this situation. There’s not a coaching 101 that has this situation in it. We’ve been through lots of stuff but never this situation.

“Of course, I’m having a thousand scenarios in my head the entire game. Believe me when I said I did. You don’t want to screw up.”

Torrence made her head coach look smart, getting the first two batters to ground out before allowing a single down the right-field line. From there, the junior got MTSU’s Savannah Behabetz to strike out looking, ending a wild day on a high note.

“I’ve been feeling good this whole weekend, so I really wanted the ball,” Torrence said. “I wanted to get it done for this team and these seniors. To be able to do that is a blessing.”

Torrence secured all three wins for Alabama in the regional, pitching 18⅔ combined scoreless innings while giving up 10 hits and striking out 17 batters. Her victory Sunday came after the Crimson Tide lost 4-1 to MTSU earlier in the day, forcing a winner-take-all matchup for the regional.

Alabama, the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, will now host No. 12 overall seed Northwestern next week in a best-of-three super regional for a trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City beginning on June 1.