The Florida Gators have put together a dominant regular season that has included a No. 1 ranking for most of the season and winning streaks of 23 and the current 18 games.
The Gators (52-3) are also the only team to cross the 50-win plateau this season, with Louisville currently second in the country with 46 wins.
But all of that goes out the window now with the postseason on the horizon. The Gators begin their postseason road in Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday in the SEC Tournament. Florida, the regular-season SEC champion, hopes that road ends with a return trip to the College World Series in Oklahoma City for the second straight year.
Top-seeded Florida opens the SEC Tournament against eighth-seeded Auburn at 5 p.m. in Thursday’s first round, the third game of the day at the University of Tennessee’s Sherri Parker Lee Softball Stadium. The winner advances to play in Friday’s semifinals at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Thursday’s game between fourth-seeded Louisiana State and fifth-seeded Tennessee.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and will be televised by SUN Sports.
The Gators defeated the Tigers 3-0 and 7-1 in their regular-season doubleheader April 1 in Auburn, Ala. The victories started the current 18-game winning streak that featured a string of 11 games (and 75 innings) in which Florida shut out its opponents. The wins came after Florida’s 6-4 loss to Alabama, which ended the 23-game winning streak. If not for that loss, Florida would be in the midst of a 42-game winning streak.
In the two games on April 1, Stacey Nelson was the winning pitcher for Florida and the Gators outhit the Tigers 13-5. Francesca Enea, Ali Gardiner and Michelle Moultrie all homered for the Gators in the series.
Overall, the Gators come into the tournament with a 17-1 record against the other seven teams in the tournament, but Florida knows better than to take that record for granted in the single-elimination tournament.
“I think this year’s tournament is any team’s to win,” said Florida coach Tim Walton. “I think all the teams are so balanced and so even that nothing would surprise me in this tournament.”
In fact, the competition in the SEC is so strong that the regular-season gauntlet and three-day tournament should prepare the Gators for a deep postseason run.
“This will probably be tougher than any (NCAA) Regional or possibly any Super Regional we are going to play in,” said Alabama coach Patrick Murphy. “So we’re definitely going to use it to our advantage.”
The Gators come in to the tournament leading the conference in most team statistical categories. In hitting, the Gators lead the conference in batting average (.334), runs (365), hits (463), doubles (71), home runs (70) and walks (234). In pitching, the Gators lead in ERA (0.55), hits surrendered (192), runs (41), earned runs (28), walks (58) and strikeouts (444). Florida also leads the conference in fielding percentage at .980.
Florida is looking to defend its first SEC Tournament Championship which it won in Baton Rouge, La., last year by defeating Mississippi 1-0, Tennessee 6-1 and Alabama 4-1. The Gators won their second-straight SEC regular-season title and third overall (1998) this season.
The Gators could follow a similar road to the championship this season with a potential matchup against host and fifth-seeded Tennessee in Friday’s semifinals and, if the seeds hold, a matchup against second-seeded Alabama in the title game.
Even though a potential matchup against Tennessee would be a home game for the Volunteers, it wouldn’t necessarily be a huge advantage for Tennessee. Florida swept the Volunteers in Tennessee last season and has won five of its last six in Knoxville. Not to mention, Florida would bat last as the home team due to its higher seed. Tennessee coach Ralph Weekly echoed that sentiment.
“We’ve not played as well at home as we have on the road at times this year,” Weekly said. “Being at home sometimes puts even more pressure on you. I think our team has been fighting all year just to make sure we’re here (in the tournament) when we’re at home. I’m hoping the homefield advantage will help us, but the amazing thing is in every game we’re probably going to be the visitor while we’re at home. Being able to bat last is important, too.”
But Tennessee first has to get through LSU in the opening round. The Vols went 2-0-1 against the Tigers in the regular season, and even though the Vols are a lower tournament seed, they are No. 18 in the nation while LSU is 20th.
The most intriguing potential matchup for the Gators would be a rematch against Alabama in the championship game, which would not only be a match of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the SEC but also No. 1 vs. No. 3 in the nation. The Gators defeated the Tide March 28 by scores of 9-1 and 10-1, but the Tide won the final game, handing the Gators their last loss on March 29.
That loss, which kept the Gators from a perfect conference record, still carries a bad taste in the Gators’ mouths.
“That one loss kind of kicks you,” said Nelson, who is 32-3 with a nation’s best ERA of 0.36 with 17 shutouts and 266 strikeouts. “But finishing with such a great record is awesome, especially in a conference as tough as the SEC. Every team can beat you on any given day. That’s no exaggeration. It’s good to come out on top.”
But a rematch would also have Alabama seeking a little revenge of its own. Florida defeated the Tide 4-1 in last year’s SEC Championship game on Mary Ratliff’s sixth-inning grand slam.
The coaches expect the conference to get about eight teams in the NCAA Tournament. All 11 teams (Vanderbilt does not play softball) are in the Top 52 of the latest RPI, with three in the top five – Florida (No. 1), Alabama (No. 2) and Georgia (No. 5) – and Tennessee No. 10. The SEC is tied with the Pacific-10 with four Top 10 RPI teams (UCLA No. 3, Washington No. 4, Arizona No. 7, Arizona State No. 8).
SEC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
At Knoxville, Tenn.
Sherri Parker Lee Softball Stadium
THURSDAY
First round
Game 1: (3) Georgia (39-9, 18-7 SEC East) vs. (6) Kentucky (31-20, 13-14 SEC East), 11 a.m.
Game 2: (2) Alabama (45-8, 21-6 SEC West) vs. (7) Arkansas (27-26, 10-16 SEC West), 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: (1) Florida (52-3, 26-1 SEC East)vs. (8) Auburn (29-26, 9-19 SEC West), 5 p.m.
Game 4: (4) Louisiana State (32-15-1, 15-10-1 SEC West) vs. (5) Tennessee (37-15-1, 12-12-1 SEC East), 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Semifinals
Game 5: Georgia-Kentucky winner vs. Alabama-Arkansas winner, 5 p.m.
Game 6: Florida-Auburn winner vs. Louisiana State-Tennessee winner, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Championship
Game 7: Semifinal winners, 1:30 p.m. (SUN)