Montana Fay Fouts (born June 4, 2000) is an American former
All-American softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
for the
Alabama Crimson Tide
The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...
and member of the
United States women's national softball team. She is best known for pitching a perfect game against
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
in the
2021 Women's College World Series
The 2021 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 21 through June 10, 2021 as the final part of the 2021 NCAA Division I softball season. 31 teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences after the Ivy League op ...
.
Early life
Montana Fay Fouts was born on June 4, 2000, in Charleston, West Virginia.
After her parents separated, she moved with her mother to
Grayson, Kentucky, at age 10; her father regularly drove around 80 miles from Charleston to Grayson to watch her high school games.
She attended East Carter High School where she was named Kentucky's Miss Softball and Kentucky's state
Gatorade Player of the Year
The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...
in softball in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Fouts holds the Kentucky high school softball ERA record for a pitcher of 0.16 earned runs allowed per game, and set a single-season high school record in the state for the most perfect games (9) and no-hitters (14). Fouts had 111 career high school wins with 1,483 strikeouts, 77 shutouts, 25 no-hitters and 15 perfect games.
College career
Fouts committed to Alabama in 2014, during her freshman year of high school.
Freshman year
Fouts made her debut for Alabama on February 8, 2019, against
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
, getting nine strikeouts with one run allowed and four hits.
In her freshman year, she went 21–6 in games that she started, had an ERA of 1.39, and threw 193 strikeouts. Fouts led Alabama softball to a berth in the
2019 Women's College World Series
The 2019 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 31 to June 4, 2019, as the final part of the 2019 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining 32 ...
where she pitched shutouts against
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. Eventually, Alabama lost to Oklahoma 7–3 in the second game of the semifinals. Fouts was named the 2019
SEC Freshman of the Year and was on the 2019 SEC All-Freshman team.
In August 2019, Fouts received an invitation to try out for the
United States women's national softball team competing in the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
, but did not make the team.
Sophomore year
During the 2020 season that was eventually shortened by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Fouts went 3–3 with a career-high 2.04 ERA and 41 strikeouts.
Junior year
During the 2021 season in her junior year, Fouts went 27–4 with a 1.61 ERA and 349 strikeouts. She led Alabama to their first SEC tournament championship since 2012, defeating
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
4–0 in the final round on May 15, 2021, and being named tournament MVP. Fouts recorded 39 strikeouts in the tournament over the course of three days, setting a new tournament record.
In the
2021 Women's College World Series
The 2021 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 21 through June 10, 2021 as the final part of the 2021 NCAA Division I softball season. 31 teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences after the Ivy League op ...
, Fouts led Alabama to a 5–1 victory against Arizona with a career-high 16 strikeouts. Fouts pitched the sixth perfect game in
Women's College World Series history, and the first since
Courtney Blades
Courtney Lynn Blades-Rogers (born May 16, 1978) is an American, former collegiate All-American, right-handed batting softball pitcher. She was a starting pitcher for two NCAA Division I teams: the Nicholls State Colonels and later the Southern M ...
in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
in a 6–0 victory over
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
[ In the AIAW 1982 WCWS, Jenny Stallard of USIU pitched an 8-inning perfect game against top-seeded Texas A&M, winning 1-0.] During the semifinal round of the tournament against
Florida State
Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
, Fouts allowed seven runs before being replaced by pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl in the third inning, and Alabama eventually was eliminated after losing the game 8–5. Fouts and teammate
Bailey Hemphill were named by NCAA to the 2021 Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team. In addition, she also won the 2021
NFCA National Pitcher of the Year, 2021 D1Softball Pitcher of the Year, and the 2021
SEC Pitcher of the Year awards.
Senior year
Fouts completed her bachelor's degree in psychology in December 2021 and began graduate studies in hospitality management in the spring 2022 semester.
During the 2022 season in her senior year, Fouts appeared in 39 games, including 36 starts, posting a 24–8 record with a 2.10 ERA and 277 strikeouts. She earned four SEC Pitcher of the Week awards, the most weekly awards of any player in the conference, and led the SEC in strikeouts. Following the season, Fouts was named a top-25 finalist for the
USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and a second-team All-American.
Redshirt senior year
During the 2023 season in her redshirt senior year, Fouts posted a 25–11 record with a 1.49 ERA and 323 strikeouts. Following the season she was named
Softball America Pitcher of the Year
The Softball America Pitcher of the Year is an award given by Wilson Sporting Goods to the best college softball
College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United ...
. She finished her college softball career with the Crimson Tide ranked second in program history in strikeouts (1,181), third in shutouts (35), fourth in wins (100) and complete games (89) and fifth in ERA (1.66).
In 2023, Fouts was chosen as the
Honda Sports Award
The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...
winner for softball, the first Alabama player to win this award.
Professional career
On April 17, 2023, Fouts was drafted, in the sixth round, 23rd overall, by the
Smash It Sports Vipers
Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States. The new league began its promotional campaign in 2021 and launched its inaugural season in June 2022.
The league is unrelated to the d ...
in the
2023 WPF draft.
International career
In July 2022, Fouts played for the
United States women's national softball team in the
2022 World Games
The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
. She notched a save in the semi-final against Australia, as the USA went on to defeat Japan, 3–2, in the gold medal game.
On August 31, 2023, Fouts was again named to the United States national team for the
2023 Pan American Games
The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...
.
Statistics
References
External links
*
Alabama Crimson Tide bioUSA Softball Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fouts, Montana
2000 births
21st-century American women
Living people
Softball players from Kentucky
Alabama Crimson Tide softball players
People from Grayson, Kentucky
Sportspeople from Charleston, West Virginia
Competitors at the 2022 World Games
World Games gold medalists
World Games medalists in softball
Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in softball
Softball players at the 2023 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games