OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The top-ranked Florida Gators are in the midst of playing the biggest games of their lives, so you would think they would be watching tape or worrying about their next opponent in the Women’s College World Series.
But if you thought that then you don’t know this group of Gators.
What did they do instead on their day off? Race go-karts.
Even Florida head coach Tim Walton got in on the action.
“They just kicked my butt in go-karts,” Walton said. “I don’t see anything like (the seniors’ mentality of having to win it all this year). They’re just having fun. Again, it’s a game. It’s not life or death. It’s a game. It’s something we’ve put a lot of hard work into, but at the end of the day it’s still a game. I think the kids understand that their lives have been changed by this game.”
This WCWS has become the SEC Invitational, with Florida (62-3), Georgia (46-11) and Alabama (54-10) joining Pacific-10 power Washington (48-11) in the Final Four. Next up for the Gators, who have won 28 straight and 51 of their last 52, is the team that last beat them 6-4 on March 29 at home—the Crimson Tide, who eliminated defending champion Arizona State, 6-2, in the last game Saturday. Florida, however, has won the three other times, including 8-5 in the championship game of the SEC Tournament on May 9. The other two victories were a 9-1, 10-1 doubleheader sweep on Msrch 28.
Florida and Alabama will play at 3 p.m. following the game between the Huskies and Bulldogs. Florida and Washington just need one victory each to get into the best-of-three championship series scheduled to begin Monday night at 8. If either Georgia or Alabama wins today, an elimination game will follow in the evening.
Florida does have something going for it Sunday—rest.
“I guess we’re just trying to take whatever edge we can off the team that comes out of today,” said senior ace Stacey Nelson, who has allowed three hits in two College World Series shutout victories – 3-0 against Arizona and 1-0 versus Michigan—in raising her season record to 41-3 and dropping her season ERA to 0.39. “They’re probably going to be more tired after playing out in the sun and everything. We’re just trying to get rested so we have that.”
The Gators have a first-hand perspective of the opposition after having to fight through the losers’ bracket last year, when they had to fight through four games in two days before ultimately losing to Texas A&M 1-0 in nine innings. So last night’s 1-0 victory over Michigan meant a little bit more to these Gators.
“After winning last night, the emotions were excitement mixed with relief,” Nelson said. “We were just so excited that we wouldn’t have to play today and everyone else would, except for Washington of course. It’s very nice.”
The reward was a light practice and a little bit of racing. Junior Francesca Enea, who leads the team in home runs (18) and already has one in this World Series, said the seniors won the race with Kim Waleszonia coming in first. Enea didn’t partake in the festivities, electing to take on a different role, one that she’s used to seeing, but never being.
“I was a video camera person,” Enea said. “I did the interviews — pregame, postgame, during. Someone had to do it.”
As you can see, Enea and the Gators are taking their second trip to Oklahoma in stride. That isn’t to say they don’t know what’s on the line, but they surely aren’t going to approach the games any differently than they have approached games all season. With only eight losses the past two seasons, that formula should work out pretty well for them.
“We’re at the World Series, so I think things can get a little over-emotional at times,” Enea said. “I think the teams that do the best are the ones that can put those emotions aside and realize that it’s just like any other game and any other at-bat. If we can do that and keep our emotions aside, we are going to be successful.”
The Orange and Blue-clad fans have shown up in full force to cheer on the team. For some teams, the extra fanfare would equal extra pressure, but this team thrives off of it.
“It’s very cool,” Nelson said. “We definitely have an enthusiastic fan section. We see people all around the stadium that we don’t know in Florida gear and it’s very cool.”
In fact, there’s nothing that gets to this team. Even Nelson’s out-of-this-world performances haven’t registered on the Gators’ radar. There are more important things on their minds, specifically which cheers they should do next.
“I don’t really talk to (Nelson) during the game that much,” Enea joked. “I mean we talk about cheers and that kind of stuff in the outfield. But she’s (pitching) good.”
Of course, even with all the fun they’re having, there is that one thing in the back of everyone’s mind.
“I think we’re really hungry to win right now,” Enea said. “We’re not going to let anything stand in our way.”
If you listen to these Gators, there’s only one obstacle that can stop them from pulling it off.
“I think ultimately, we would have to beat ourselves,” Walton said. “With Stacey pitching the way she’s pitching and the defense we have, we’d really have to beat ourselves. We would just have to have an awful day.”
You can count on one hand the number of awful games the Gators have endured the past two seasons. Unfortunately for their opponent, the Gators would have to serve up two in a row for the unthinkable to happen.
So it’s easy to see why they’re so loose before the biggest games of their lives. It’s full speed ahead.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Georgia 5, Missouri 2: Kristyn Sandberg had a two-run homer and Kristin Schnake had a two-run double as the sixth-seeded Bulldogs eliminated unseeded Missouri (50-12) from the tournament. Missouri had earned its spot in the eight-team field by winning two of three against No. 2 seed UCLA in the Los Angeles Super Regional.
Sandberg’s home run gave Georgia (45-11) a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Schnake made it 5-0 in the fifth against losing pitcher Chelsea Thomas (16-7), who allowed just three hits but walked four in four innings.
Christie Hamilton (25-9) surrendered a two-one single to Maria Schweisberger in the sixth inning but picked up the victory. She struck out four and walked two.
Alabama 14, Arizona 0 (5): Arizona, the nation’s top offense coming into the WCWS, was shutout for the second straight time as Crimson Tide pitcher Charlotte Morgan (18-6) hurled a five-hitter (all singles) and also helped her own cause with a home run and three RBI.
Fourth-seeded Alabama (53-10) scored eight runs in the second inning, scored a record 14 runs in the game and won by a record of margin in the 27-year history of the tournament. The Wildcats, whose eight national titles are second only to UCLA’s 11, finished their season at 46-17 with the program’s worst loss ever.
Morgan and Kelley Montalvo led the Alabama 16-hit attack against three Arizona pitchers with three hits each. Brittany Rogers, Lauren Parker and Whitney Larsen had two hits each. Starting pitcher Sarah Akamine (22-8) suffered the setback for Arizona.
Georgia 7, Michigan 5: The Bulldogs used four home runs – a WCWS record – to stay alive for Sunday’s game against third-seed Washington and to eliminate Michigan.
The Wolverines (47-12) jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with two outs against Arizona starter Sarah McCloud. Roya St. Clair hit a two-run homer to highlight the Michigan inning, but junior left-hander Nikki Nemitz, who gave up Megan Bush’s solo home run that was the difference in the team’s 1-0 loss to Florida, was banged around by Georgia. She allowed five runs on six hits in two innings before sophomore Jordan Taylor took over in the third.
Taylor Schlopy got Georgia (46-11) back on track with a solo homer that cut the Michigan lead to 3-1 after one inning. Schlopy then hit a three-run homer in the second inning as Georgia scored four times to take a 5-3 lead.
Ashley Pauly made it 6-3 with a leadoff homer in the fourth off Taylor. Michigan cut the margin to 6-5 in the fifth, but Brianna Hesson had a leadoff home run in the sixth for the final margin.
Reliever Christie Hamilton (26-9), who replaced McCloud after Michigan’s three-run first, got the victory. Nemitz (28-7) suffered the loss.
Alabama 6, Arizona State 2: The Crimson Tide got an unlikely lift from a little-used player in eliminating the defending national champions in the final game of the evening.
Jazlyn Lunceford, whose last hit was 38 days ago, hit a two-out, pinch-hit, grand-slam home run to lift Alabama (54-10) into today’s second game against Florida. The two SEC teams have met four times, with Florida winning three of the games, including the last, an 8-5 victory in the SEC Tournament championship game on May 9.
But Alabama is also the last team to beat Florida – a 6-4 victory on March 29 that Lunceford ended by catching Michelle Moultrie’s 3-run, game-winning, home-run bid at the fence in right field. That victory ended a 23-game winning streak and the Gators now have won 28 in a row.
Florida has allowed just 51 runs in 65 games, but in its four games against the Gators, Alabama has scored 13 of the runs.
With the bases loaded against the Sun Devils in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs, Alabama coach Pat Murphy told Lunceford to go up and hit for four-time All-American Brittany Rogers against Arizona State ace Hillary Bach.
Lunceford, a left-handed hitter, worked the count to 2-2 and then slapped the ball into the first row of the bleachers in left field to give the Crimson Tide a 4-2 lead. Sophomore Kelsi Dunne (28-4) allowed two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts. Arizona State went home 47-19.
NCAA DIVISION I SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
At ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Records (thru Saturday): Florida 2-0, Washington (2-0), Georgia (2-1), Alabama (2-1), Arizona State (1-2), Michigan (1-2), Missouri (0-2), Arizona (0-2).
Saturday
Game 7: Georgia 5, Missouri 2 (Missouri eliminated)
Game 8: Alabama 14, Arizona 0 (5) (Arizona eliminated)
Game 9: Georgia 7, Michigan 5 (Michigan eliminated)
Game 10: Alabama 6, Arizona State 2 (Arizona State eliminated)
Sunday
Game 11: Georgia 9, Washington 8 (9)
Game 12: (1) Florida (62-3) vs. (4) Alabama (54-10), 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 13: (6) Georgia (47-11) vs. (3) Washington (48-12), 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 14: Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 9 p.m., if necessary (ESPN2)
Championship (Best-of-3
Monday: Florida Bracket winner vs. Washington Bracket winner, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Tuesday: Florida Bracket winner vs. Washington Bracket winner, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Wednesday: Florida Bracket winner vs. Washington Bracket winner, 8 p.m., if necessary (ESPN2)