The Alabama offense, a ticking time bomb, sent shot after shot over the outfield wall and sent the Florida Gators softball team back to Gainesville without a conference title.
Top-seeded Alabama used two home runs to defeat third-seeded Florida 10-1 via the mercy rule in five innings in the Southeastern Conference Tournament final on Saturday at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
This marks the fifth conference title in Alabama school history. Florida missed out on its first title since defeating the Crimson Tide in 2009.
Gators softball loses SEC Final
‘Bama explodes for nine runs in four innings
Adam Pincus
The Alabama offense, a ticking time bomb, sent shot after shot over the outfield wall and sent the Florida Gators softball team back to Gainesville without a conference title.
Top-seeded Alabama used two home runs to defeat third-seeded Florida 10-1 (5) via the run rule in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Final Saturday at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
This marks the fifth conference title in Alabama school history. Florida missed out on its first title since defeating the Crimson Tide in 2009.
Florida loses a game via the run rule for the second time all season. Alabama beat the Gators in six innings last weekend.
For two and a half innings, the final resembled an old-fashioned SEC pitcher’s duel, which the Florida Gators experienced in their previous two games.
Freshman right-hander Lauren Heager, starting for Florida ace Hannah Rogers, surrendered two runs in the first on a triple by Alabama shortstop and third batter Kaila Hunt.
Florida held a 2-5 record when allowing an opponent to score in the opening frame.
History repeated itself in front of the sea of red at Alabama’s home stadium.
The Gators responded in the top of the second with a Kasey Fagan RBI single, which brought Florida within one, but would be the only run Florida could muster against Alabama No. 3 starter Amanda Locke.
Fagan entered the game five for her last 37 and hadn’t driven in a run since Apr. 15.
Not only did Fagan register her first RBI in nearly a month, but also the senior Locke started her first postseason game of her career.
Locke, a right-hander with only three conference starts this season, pitched in the place of All-American Jackie Traina who threw every inning against Florida last weekend to clinch the regular season conference title.
The right-hander held Florida to three hits and allowed just three runners to advance to second base.
Locke didn’t need her best stuff Saturday as the Alabama offense touched up Lauren Haeger for eight earned runs in three innings.
In bottom half of the third, Alabama sent nine batters to the plate and plated six runs on four hits.
After Hunt, batter No. 3 of the inning, singled in another run and Locke singled through the left side, right fielder Jazlyn Lunceford sent a no-doubter three-run home run off the top of the scoreboard in left-center for an emphatic mid-game statement.
Haeger settled down following the rough first inning, but her inability to keep her pitches down in the strike zone doomed any chance for a Florida comeback.
Eighth batter Kendall Dawson, a soft-hitting catcher with two long balls on the year, got into the action with a two-run home run down the left-field line.
Alabama pushed its nation-leading home run total to 90 on the season.
Rogers replaced Haeger in the circle to start the fourth inning. Alabama, with a comfortable seven-run lead, continued scoring with two more runs to put the run rule into effect.
Florida now waits for word on what national seed they receive for the NCAA Tournament. The Gators, locks as regional hosts and probable super regional hosts, find out their postseason fate Sunday night at 10 ET on the NCAA Division I Softball Championship Selection Show broadcasted on ESPNU.
It seemed fitting the Crimson Tide needed only five innings Saturday to finish off the Gators.
Alabama players, rocking black wristbands with the words ‘FINISH IT’ in white, had no trouble doing just that en route to their fifth-ever SEC championship.
*An ESPN2 broadcast contributed to this report.