KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Left off the All-Southeastern Conference softball first team, junior outfielder Francesca Enea of No. 1 Florida made Auburn pay Thursday in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Enea, who entered the game leading Florida in home runs (16) and runs batted in (61), had a two-run double in the bottom of the first off Auburn starter Anna Thompson, sending Florida on its way to a 3-0 victory over the Tigers behind the two-hit shutout pitching of two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year Stacey Nelson.
The victory at the University of Tennessee’s Sherri Parker Lee Stadium moves the Gators into Friday night’s 7:30 p.m. second semifinal to play tourney host and fifth-seeded Tennessee, which edged fourth-seeded Louisiana State, 6-5, in the final game of the day.
The first semifinal will feature Kentucky and Alabama. The Wildcats scored a 2-0 victory over third-seeded Georgia, while the Crimson Tide, the No. 2 seed, scored an 8-0 five-inning victory over Arkansas. The championship game will be played Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and be televised on FSN.
SEC Coach of the Year Tim Walton’s team, which won its 19th straight game and improved to 53-3 this season, managed only four hits off Thompson but two of them went for extra bases.
“Over the last three years that I’ve been here, we’ve played Auburn tight,” Walton said. “Anna Thompson is one of the best pitchers in the league and we’ve had trouble with her, as have so many other people in this league. We’re just glad to get that first win.”
Sophomore second baseman Aja Paculba, who along with Nelson and outfielder Kelsey Bruder were Florida’s All-SEC first-team selections, led off the bottom of the first with a 3-2 walk. Senior catcher Kristina Hilberth lined a shot at third baseman Kyndall White, who couldn’t handle it, leaving runners on first and second. A wild pitch by Thompson moved them up a base.
Enea, who was an All-SEC second-team selection along with sophomore pitcher Stephanie Brombacher, shortstop Megan Bush and first baseman Ali Gardiner, jumped on the first pitch from Thompson and lined the ball into the left-center field gap, scoring Paculba and Hilberth to give Nelson (33-3) all the offense she needed in her 18th shutout of the season. She allowed two hits, one walk and struck out five. Thompson (14-15) gave the eighth-seeded Tigers (29-27) a chance, allowing just the four hits while walking one.
Paculba added an insurance run in the third inning with a leadoff solo home run, her seventh roundtripper of the season.
“Obviously, Stacey Nelson did a good job,” Walton said. “She really pounded the strike zone and I was pleased with how she threw the ball. When you have a pitcher like Stacey that is throwing strikes and getting in on the hands, it makes it pretty hard to get comfortable in the box.”
Getting a quick 2-0 lead was big for Florida.
“”It’s huge. That’s the nature of our game,” Walton continued. “You have to get momentum first and then keep it. I thought we did a good job coming out and grabbing the momentum right out of the gate.Francesca (Enea) coming up big in the first inning was huge and then Aja (Paculba) gace us a little bit of insurance in the third,”
The quick 3-0 lead left Nelson in a comfort zone when the Tigers threatened in the fourth and seventh innings.
“It’s very nice, especially when they were getting those runners on base,” Nelson said. “Obviously, I wanted to get out of it with no runs, but knowing I had a three-run cushion really made me a lot more comfortable.”
Nelson retired the first nine batters she faced before the Tigers threatened in the fourth. Myesha Finney singled to start off the inning. Casse Trosclair hit a grounder to Bush, whose relay was dropped at second by Paculba, allowing both players to be safe. Kyndall White then grounded to first and Gardiner fired a strike to third baseman Corrie Brooks to retire Finney. Cleanup hitter Elizabeth Eisterhold then moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt. But Nelson got Tatiana Fernandez to pop out behind second base to Bush to end the inning.
Nelson then had 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth before running into trouble in the top of the seventh. White singled to lead off the inning. Two outs later, Lindsey Harrelson walked and the runners moved up on a wild pitch. Nelson quickly got a 1-2 count on Alexa Martinez and then missed two straight pitches before getting Martinez to ground out to Bush.
“I don’t expect Stacey to be perfect, whether she walks a player, hits a player, or someone gets a hit,” Walton said. “I thought she did a great job making quality pitches when she needed to. She threw about five pitches tonight that were hard and had great, sharp break, so I was very pleased with her.”
Florida now has won 42 of its last 43 games, the 6-4 loss to Alabama on March 29 being the last setback. That loss came after Florida swept a doubleheader the day before by scores of 11-1 and 9-1. You can be sure the Gators, who rolled through their SEC competition with a 26-1 record to win the regular-season championship, aren’t taking this tournament lightly.
“We still want to win,” Walton added. “That’s the goal and that’s what we are trying to do. I don’t know who we are going to pitch yet. Stacey threw well today and Stephanie (Brombacher) has been throwing great in the bullpen, so I would feel comfortable going to either one of them tomorrow (Friday).”
Tennessee 6, Louisiana State 5: The No. 16 Volunteers (38-15-1) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first two and a half innings and then held off No. 20 LSU (32-16-1). Freshman hurler Cat Hosfield earned her 28th victory, allowing two runs, five hits, three walks and striking out six in 6.1 innings. Jen Lapicki knocked in two runs, Kelly Grieve stole her 35th and 36th bases of the season to tie the single-season record.
Kentucky 2, Georgia 0: Kentucky shortstop Molly Johnson hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning and Rachel Riley threw a five-hitter as the sixth-seeded Wildcats (32-20) stunned the third-seeded Bulldogs (39-10) in the opening game of the tournament. Kentucky managed just four hits off Georgia starter Christie Hamilton (21-8), who walked two and struck out six. Riley (6-5) walked no one and struck out two.
Alabama 8, Arkansas 0: Second baseman Lauren Parker went 3-for-3 with an RBI and catcher Ashley Holcombe had a home run and two RBI for No. 3 Alabama (46-8), the second-seeded team in the tournament and the only team to beat Florida in its last 43 games. Junior Charlotte Morgan (15-6) allowed just one hit by Arkansas (27-27)—a singled by catcher Whitney Cloer in the fourth inning—and also helped her own cause with a double and three RBI.