FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – On a day made long because of stormy weather, the fifth-ranked Florida Gators softball team made short work of Auburn with an eight-run fifth inning in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Junior Megan Bush and freshman Kelsey Horton hit home runs in the inning, backing up junior right-hander Stephanie Brombacher’s two-hitter as the second-seeded Gators beat seventh-seeded Auburn, 9-1, in 4.2 innings to move into Friday’s semifinals of the tournament at the University of Arkansas’ Bogle Park.
Next up for coach Tim Walton’s Gators (43-7) is third-seeded Louisiana State (43-13), which used a two-out double by Allison Falcon followed by a walk-off home run by Kirsten Shortridge to oust sixth-seeded Kentucky, 2-1, in a game that was delayed for 3½ hours by rain. The Gators meet the Tigers at 3 p.m. with the game televised on ESPNU. The other semifinal will match fifth-seeded Tennessee (42-12) and top-seeded Alabama (46-9) at 5:30 p.m. In a game that started at 9:20 p.m., Tennessee beat Georgia 6-4. Then the Crimson Tide used a 7-run fifth inning to beat host Arkansas, 9-0, as the first day of the rain-delayed tournament ended at 1:30 a.m. ET.
“I thought we did a good job staying with our game plan and staying with our approach,” Walton said. “We really did not swing at a lot of bad pitches today, which I think is key as you get into the postseason. We didn’t let our nerves take over.”
Instead, the Gators remained patient until Auburn made the mistakes. All of the Florida runs were unearned because they came after Auburn errors – a booted ball by shortstop Lauren Guzman in the third inning and left fielder Katie Colton’s first error of the year on a fly ball by Florida’s Michelle Moultrie. If she had caught the ball, the Tigers would have gotten out of the fifth inning without allowing a run.
“You can’t give anyone four outs in this league, especially in this tournament with your backs against the wall,” Walton continued. “Ultimately that was a big sigh of relief.”
The home runs by Bush and Horton increased Florida’s record-breaking season total to 95. Brombacher, who along with Bush and senior Francesca Enea were first-team selections on the All-SEC softball team, improved to 29-5 by striking out six and walking just one.
One of the two hits she allowed was a solo home run by Kyndall White in the top of the first inning after Brombacher had struck out the first two batters. It was the first earned run Brombacher had allowed in 33.2 innings and she re-established her dominance by ending the inning with a third strikeout.
Florida, which outhit Auburn 8-2, almost tied the game in the second inning when Tiffany DeFelice doubled with two outs and Corrie Brooks singled. DeFelice tried to score from second but was gunned down at home by Auburn right fielder Lindsey Harrelson, leaving the Tigers ahead 1-0.
The Gators tied the game in the third inning when All-SEC second-team center fielder Moultrie drove in pinch-runner Lauren Heil with a rocket off reliever Anna Thompson. The inning started with Horton reaching on an infield hit that shortstop Guzman booted, allowing Horton to take second. Walton sent Heil in to run for Horton as Auburn brought in Thompson to relieve starter Jenee Loree. Aja Paculba moved Heil to third with a sacrifice bunt and Moultrie followed with a shot that hit off Thompson so hard that Guzman was able to throw her out at first but not before Heil scored. Enea then flied out to end the inning.
Florida put the game away in the fifth inning with eight runs on four hits. Paculba had a one-out walk and moved to second when Moultrie reached on an error by Colton. Enea, the SEC’s all-time home-run hitter, was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting up All-SEC freshmen team member Brittany Schutte, who hit her fourth sacrifice fly of the season to score Paculba for a 2-1 lead.
Bush then followed with her 13th home run of the season to increase the Florida lead to 5-1, chasing Thompson and bringing in reliever Lauren Schmalz. Schmalz hit junior Kelsey Bruder before surrendering a single to DeFelice. Brooks followed with a single to left to score Bruder for a 6-1 Florida advantage with two outs.
That set the stage for Horton, like Schutte an All-SEC freshmen team member. On a 2-2 pitch from Schmalz, Horton reached out and flicked her bat, sending a three-run homer out in right. It was Horton’s second game-ending home run of the week. She ended Sunday’s 9-0 victory over South Carolina with a two-run homer. She has six homers on the season.
Bush, DeFelice, Brooks and Horton each had two hits in the game for Florida.
Florida won a three-game series with Louisiana State earlier this season at Gainesville, sweeping a doubleheader with 4-1 and 2-1 victories April 3 and 7-1 on April 4.
No. 17 Louisiana State 2, Kentucky 1: The Tigers were down to their last out following the long rain delay before Falcon and Shortridge pulled off their heroics off hard-luck loser Rachel Riley (11-9), who had relieved Chanda Bell after she had pitched five shutout innings.
Kentucky (31-25) got its only run in the fourth inning off LSU starter Cody Trahan when Molly Johnson opened the fourth with a solo home run. Otherwise, Trahan was brilliant, allowing three hits and zero walks while striking out seven in 6.1 innings of work.
Riley had gotten out of a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh, Kentucky got two runners on with one out before the rains came. Following the delay, LSU gave the ball to freshman Rachele Fico (19-5), who needed just five pitches before inducing an inning-ending double play.
No. 15 Tennessee 6, No. 9 Georgia 4: Fifth-seeded Tennessee scored in each of the first four innings to oust fourth-seeded Georgia.
After Tennessee jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Georgia responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning, the last coming on junior Brianna Hesson’s solo home run.
The Lady Vols (42-12) regained the lead in the top of the second on Raven Chavanne’s two-out, two-run home run that knocked out freshman starter Alison Owen.
After an eight-minute rain delay between the second and third innings, Tennessee scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 6-3 lead. The first run came in on Lauren Gibson’s groundout, and a first-and-third double steal by Kat Dotson and Chavanne produced the second run.
Ivy Renfore (26-4), who relieved starter Cat Hosfield with two outs in the first inning, earned the victory after pitching 6.1 innings and allowing just five hits and only one run – Taylor Schlopy’s solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Georgia fell to 43-11 with the loss.
No. 3 Alabama 9, Arkansas 0: The Alabama softball team scored all nine runs with two outs and used a seven-run fifth inning to run-rule Arkansas early Friday morning. The Crimson Tide improved to 46-9 with its 22nd victory in a row. Arkansas fell to 28-29. Prior to the game, which started shortly before 11:30 p.m. and ended at 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, Alabama received its SEC regular-season trophy.
The Tide was led at the plate by sophomore Jennifer Fenton. The outfielder returned to action and did not miss a beat from an ankle injury as she collected two hits, drove in a run and scored once. Fellow sophomore Amanda Locke drove in two runs on two hits and scored a run.
Junior pitcher Kelsi Dunne improved to 25-4 on the season and won her 12th straight start by holding Arkansas to just two hits in the shutout. Dunne struck out eight and walked four.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning the Tide bats exploded for seven runs in the fifth. After back-to-back bases loaded walks to sophomore Cassie Reilly-Boccia and senior Charlotte Morgan, junior Whitney Larsen continued her tear at Bogle Park by hitting a walk-off grand slam that hit the scoreboard.
Alabama opened the scoring in the first inning by plating two runs with two outs on one swing of the bat. After a walk to Reilly-Boccia after a full count and then a single up the middle on a full count by Morgan that got both runners in scoring position, Locke fought a 3-2 changeup through the right side to score both runners.
SEC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Bogle Park / University of Arkansas / Fayetteville, Ark.
THURSDAY / May 13
(3) Louisiana State 2, (6) Kentucky 1
(2) Florida 9, (7) Auburn 1 (5)
(5) Tennessee 6, (4) Georgia 4
(1) Alabama 9. (8) Arkansas 0 (5)
FRIDAY / May 14
(2) Florida (43-7) vs. (3) Louisiana State (43-13), 3 p.m. ET
(5) Tennessee (42-12) vs. (1) Alabama (46-9), 5:30 p.m. ET
SATURDAY / May 15
Championship, 7:30 p.m. ET