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SEC Champions: Florida Softball Sweeps SEC Regular Season and Tournament Titles with 10-4 Victory Over Mizzou
Five extra-base hits,
including three bombs, helped lead the No. 2/3 Gator softball squad to
a 10-4 victory over Missouri for the 2013 SEC Tournament Championship
Saturday, as the Orange and Blue swept both the regular-season and SEC
Tournament titles for the third time in Florida history. Behind SEC
Tournament MVP and Gator freshman centerfielder Kirsti Merritt (Lake
Panasoffkee, Fla.), UF improved to 52-7 on the year and will wait for
NCAA tournament seeding, announced at 10 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPNU’s NCAA
Softball Selection Show.
Working form behind for
their 18th come-from-behind of the year, Florida’s first two hits
Saturday evening both left the yard as senior Kelsey Horton (Valrico,
Fla.) and Merritt both ripped two-run blasts to get the Gators rolling
offensively.
After clinching their fourth SEC
Championship in school history last week, the Gators returned defeat
Alabama (8-4), Georgia (9-5) and finally Missouri (10-4) for their
third SEC Tournament Title after also winning both the regular season
and SEC tourney in 2008 and 2009. UF played in the tourney championship
for the sixth time in program history and improved to 14-5 (.736) in
the conference tournament under 2013 SEC Coach of the Year Tim Walton.
Three
freshmen in first baseman Taylor Schwarz (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.),
second baseman Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kan.), Merritt and junior
Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln, Calif.) represented the Orange and Blue on
the SEC All-Tournament Team.
After a RBI double
and a solo home run from Missouri in the first and second innings,
respectively, for the 2-0 Tigers lead early, one swing of the bat in
the bottom of the second from Horton knotted things up between the
Gators and Tigers.
Sophomore starting pitcher
Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) first drew a leadoff walk and moved to
second on a Chelsea Thomas wild pitch before Horton sent her ninth bomb
of the year to straight-away center for a 2-2 ballgame after the second
frame. Haeger (4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) picked up the win to
improve to 15-2 on the season, while junior ace Hannah Rogers (Peoria,
Ariz.) came on for three innings of relief (3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3
K) to pick up her fourth save of the season.
Missouri
opted to go with senior Lindsey Muller in the circle in the bottom of
the third and the Gators made the Tigers pay after Stewart drew a
leadoff walk as Merritt left the yard with a two-run blast of her own
for the 4-2 Gator lead, chasing Muller from the circle in favor of
senior Nicole Hudson.
A Stewart two-RBI triple –
her staggering ninth of the season – ripped to the left-center wall
plated freshman pinch runner Taylore Fuller (Trenton, Fla.) and
sophomore Katie Medina (Downey, Calif.) in the bottom of the fourth for
the 6-2 Orange and Blue lead, Fuller running for sophomore Bailey
Castro (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), who singled to left field and Medina who
reached on a fielder’s choice in the inning.
Rogers,
who picked up the win in UF’s semifinal victory over Georgia, came on
in relief of Haeger in the circle in the fifth inning. After
back-to-back doubles, including a Hudson RBI double to narrow UF’s
lead, 6-3, Rogers sat down the next three batters to bring up the
bottom of the fifth.
Tofft earned the run back for
the Gators in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff bomb over the
right-field fence to give the Gators a four-run cushion with their
fourth extra-base hit of the evening. Countering with a homer of her
own, the Tigers’ Rachel Hay sent a solo homer over the left-field fence
for a 7-4 ballgame after the top of the sixth inning.
Tofft
and Haeger teamed up for UF’s eighth, ninth and 10th runs of the game
for Florida in the bottom of the sixth, Tofft with a RBI single to left
field and Haeger with a two-RBI double to the right-center gap for the
10-4 advantage.
Rogers closed it out for the
Gators in the top of the seventh, dealing out a two-out walk before
fanning Mackenzie Sykes in dramatic fashion for the championship
victory.
Florida is now 22-23 (.488) all-time in
the SEC Tournament. The Gators are 14-4 (.777) against top-25
opponents, tops in the SEC, own 18 come-from-behind wins – seven in SEC
regular-season play – and are 5-2 (.714) in extra-inning games in 2013.
Florida owns 18 shutouts, paced by Rogers’ nine.
CHAMPIONSHIP POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Tim Walton
Opening Statement …
“Well,
first we want to congratulate Missouri, Georgia and Tennessee for
getting this far. It is a long season and we play a lot of games and
there are just a lot of classy performances. Missouri has one of the
best offenses that I have seen in a long time. There are a lot of great
hitters in that lineup, and Chelsea Thomas is a beast. I’m proud of my
players of how they competed and how they composed themselves. The
celebration you saw was long overdue. The celebration on the field was
more of a carryover from last week’s championship to this week’s
championship. Commissioner Slive put on a great event and to Kentucky,
Mr. (Mitch) Barnhart and the staff here as well. They probably haven’t
hosted a softball event in a long time and to put on an event like that
through the weather and the rain it means a lot to our
student-athletes. I’m proud to be the coach of this team and how they
compete. I’m thankful that we got it done.”
On the game plan for the game…
“I
wasn’t sure who we were going to face, so we didn’t have one. We did
not have one for (Nicole) Hudson or for (Chelsea) Thomas. I told my
team before the game that no matter how many we are down or ahead to
make sure you keep going and not get caught up in the score. This
Missouri team has been down and scored a ton. They also have the blood
in the water mentality, as they will pound you once they sense you are
down. We just tried to focus on our at bats.”
#20, Kelsey Horton, OF
On her confidence …
“I
think I was having some pretty good at bats this weekend. I just wasn’t
getting hits. It boosted my confidence, towards the end of the Georgia
game, getting some hits. I felt confidence going into tonight against
Mizzou and not worrying about who was pitching, just worrying about
myself really helped me out tonight.”
On winning the SEC Tournament her senior year…
“It
was just great to be able to hold that trophy with Ensley (Gammel).
I’ve been here four years on some really good teams, and we haven’t won
an SEC title or an SEC Tournament Title yet so I’m so happy my senior
year, I could go out that way.”
#24, Kirsti Merritt, OF
On her team’s performance through the tournament …
“It
was surprising. We just came out. Coach (Walton) has been working with
us on hitting. We hit almost every day. It wasn’t surprising that we’re
all hitting so well. It was exciting that we came out here and did our
thing.”
On winning the SEC Tournament …
“It’s a first so it was really exciting. I’ve never done that, so it was fun.”
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