Florida focused on first matchup in Softball Regional

After an early exit from the SEC tournament last week, it is clear that the Florida softball team is not dwelling on the past as it heads into the NCAA Tournament Regional.

“We’ve lost games before and turned the page, and won a million games in a row,” head coach Tim Walton said. “If we played like that 50 percent of the time over the last 20 games, I’d be worried about it, but we’ve played like that once out of 20 games.”

As the overall No. 4 seed, the Gators (47-9) will play Bethune-Cookman (33-24) on Friday at 6 p.m., at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the second game of the Gainesville Regional. The first game, between Jacksonville (43-14) and last year’s defending champion, UCLA (33-17), will be played at 3:30 p.m.

Despite playing only eight days ago, SEC Player of the Year Kelsey Bruder said it has felt like a month since she has played a game. The senior said the Auburn loss served as a wakeup call for the team going into practice this week.

“We definitely can’t dwell in the past”, she said. “Yes, we got beat. They were better than us that day. But the practice that we’ve shown this week and the heart that we’ve produced – I wouldn’t want to be anywhere then where I am right now.”

Fellow senior Megan Bush said getting over the early exit was important because of the fact that it didn’t do anything to hamper the Gators’ season or their berth in tournament play.

“It didn’t make our season. It didn’t break our season. So we just had to take it as another game, another learning experience and this is where it counts,” she said.

Bush, who is the SEC’s career leader in home runs, has been in a slump as of late recording just four base hits in her last 12 games.

The senior said she’s hoping to get her confidence back at the plate in tournament play and will have to do so against a Bethune-Cookman team that won their second straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title on Sunday.

Since starting the season winning only 12 out their first 32 games, the Wildcats have turned it around losing only four games of their last 25. One of those losses came by the hands of Jacksonville, who won an 11-3 mid-week contest while visiting B-CU on April 27.

The Wildcats are led by senior pitcher Allison Garcia, who is also the team’s best hitter. Garcia leads the team with a .374 batting average, nine home runs and 56 RBIs, while posting a team-best 3.54 ERA. She has played every game this season for B-CU and has made appearances in the circle in 48 out of 57 games.

Friday’s matchup will mark the second year in a row the Wildcats have played in the Gainesville regional as the Gators took the first matchup 6-0 last season.

Win or lose, the Gators will have a potential matchup with UCLA, who they met earlier this season in the Cathedral City Classic on Feb. 26. Florida took the contest 4-1 before winning the tournament, which was held in Palm Springs, Calif.

In last year’s College World Series, the Bruins handed Florida its first loss in double elimination play with a 16-3 contest before taking the national title.

Nonetheless, the Gators are not trying to lose sight of Bethune-Cookman.

“I don’t need to motivate our players about how good Bethune is because we saw them last year,” Walton said. “Our sights are set 100 percent squarely on what Bethune is all about.”

Gainesville Regional:

Regional play will be held in a double elimination format.

If the Gators win against B-CU, they will play the winner between JU and UCLA on Saturday at 1 p.m.

If the Gators lose, they will play the loser of the matchup on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

If the Gators lose the 1:00 game or win the 3:30 game, they will then play at 6 p.m., on Saturday to determine if they advance to Sunday’s finale or end the 2011 season.

A complete bracket of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship can be found here.

2011 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Awards:

Six Gators were named to the 2011 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Southeast Region Team on Thursday.

Bruder, Bush, sophomore utility player Brittany Schutte and freshman pitcher Hannah Rogers were named to the All-Southeast Region First Team, while senior second baseman Aja Paculba and junior center fielder Michelle Moultrie were named to the Second Team.

The Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region teams were chosen by NFCA member coaches from each region, and all the honorees are now eligible to be selected to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America first, second or third teams.

Florida was among five teams who reached the six maximum players for the award joining Arizona State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame.

Gator Country reporter Safid Deen can be reached at Safid@GatorCountry.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SafidDeenGC.