Florida Softball - National Champion 14 15

[Deleted]

Athens, Ga. – After the series opener was postponed due to rain on Friday, the Florida-Georgia softball series now will feature a doubleheader on Saturday. Game 1 of the twinbill will be played at noon (all times Eastern), while the second game will begin as scheduled at 4 p.m. There will be no television or streaming coverage for Game 1, while Game 2 will air on ESPN2 and WatchESPN. Florida Sports Talk will have radio coverage of both games.



Weather permitting, the series will conclude on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch on ESPNU, WatchESPN and Florida Sports Talk.

[Deleted]

Game 1 goes to the Gators 8-4 over the poodles:


---1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
UF 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 10 0
UG 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 9 1


All runs in the game came as a result of homeruns:

UF: Lauren Haeger hit a grand slam in the 1st and Nicole Dewitt hit a grand slam in the 7th.

UG: Hit a 3 run homerun in the 1st and a solo homerun in the 3rd.


The official scorer shorted the Gators of a Bailey Castro single in the first inning immediately after Haeger's grand slam. They didn't count it as a hit or a poodle error.

UF's record advanced to 42-4 (12-4). The Gators are 3-0 on the week; 2-0 over UK, 7-0 over USF, and 8-4 over UGALY.

Next up: the second game of the doubleheader which will be televised on ESPN 2 at 4 PM EDT.

[Deleted]

Game 2 of the doubleheader and the series goes to UF 4-3:


Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Florida............. 300 000 1 - 4 6 0
Georgia............. 000 010 2 - 3 6 1
-----------------------------------------


Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go

Aleshia Ocasio W,14-3 6.0 6 3 3 0 5 0 0 0 0 23 23 5 7

Delanie Gourley S,3 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0


UF started fast again in game 2 when Bailey Castro hit a 3 run homerun in the 1st inning. The Gators added an insurance run while leading 3-1 in the top of the 7th.

The poodles made thing interesting in the 7th when Aleshia Ocasio was hammered for back to back solo homeruns to open the inning.

Tim Walton made the move to his bullpen by bringing Delanie Gourley. All she did was strikeout the next 3 batters to end the game. I've been hard on Gourley on this site, but she showed her metal and her value to the team today coming on to get the save.

UF's record advanced to 43-4 (13-4).

Weather permitting, game 3 will be played tomorrow afternoon with the Gators going for the sweep of the poodles. I hope mother nature cooperates. I'd hate to see UF not get the chance to sweep UGALY in any sport.

[Deleted]

Saturday April 18, 2015

Lauren Haeger Sets Florida, SEC Home Run Records as Gators Sweep Doubleheader

Athens, Ga. – Senior Lauren Haeger set the Gator and Southeastern Conference career home run records as the No. 2-ranked University of Florida softball team clinched its fifth consecutive SEC series victory on Saturday with 8-4 and 4-3 victories against No. 11 Georgia at Jack Turner Stadium. Haeger earned the win with a complete-game effort in Game 1 to move to 20-0 on the year, while Aleshia Ocasio (15-3) worked six-plus innings before yielding to Delanie Gourley, who earned her third save in the nightcap.

Florida (43-4, 13-4 SEC) put up four runs in the first inning of Game 1 on Haeger’s historic 66th career homer. Kelsey Stewart and Nicole DeWitt singled before Kirsti Merritt was hit by a pitch to set the stage for Haeger, who launched a 2-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for a grand slam to give Florida a quick 4-0 lead. The Bulldogs (35-13, 12-8) answered with a three-run homer in the home half.

Georgia continued the scoring and tied the game in the third with a solo home run to center. The teams traded three scoreless frames before the Gators loaded the bases on three singles to start the seventh. DeWitt then pulled a go-ahead grand slam down the right-field line to put Florida back in front 8-4, producing the final margin in the series-opening win for the Orange and Blue.

As in Game 1, Florida jumped out to an early lead in the second contest thanks to a home run. Merritt and Haeger both singled with two outs to bring up Bailey Castro for a three-run shot down the left-field line. Both pitchers kept the opposition off the scoreboard from that point until the fifth inning, when Georgia cut the UF lead to 3-1 with a solo home run to left.

Kayli Kvistad reached on an error to lead off the seventh, and pinch-runner Jessica Damico scored two batters later on an RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Briana Little. Georgia hit back-to-back solo home runs to start the home half of the inning before Gourley entered and struck out the side to save the 4-3 win.

STARS OF THE GAME
•Lauren Haeger: The senior added the UF and SEC career home run record to her Gator RBI and walks benchmarks, while winning her 20th consecutive decision to begin the season.
•Nicole DeWitt: The freshman’s game-winning grand slam in the opener marked her first career home run.
•Bailey Castro: The fourth-year Gator hit her fifth home run in seven games since April 3 during Game 2.

NOTABLES
•Haeger’s grand slam was the 66th home run of her career, breaking a tie with former Gator All-American Megan Bush for sole possession of first place on the Florida and SEC home run lists.
•The bases-loaded home run marked UF’s seventh grand slam of the season.
•Haeger hit her first grand slam since May 17, 2014, vs. Stetson during the NCAA Gainesville Regional.
•The Arizona native earned the win in Game 1 of an SEC series for the sixth consecutive week.
•Florida hit two grand slams in a game for the second time this season (also: Feb. 22 vs. Mercer – Game 1).
•DeWitt notched her third career game-winning RBI (last: Feb. 7 vs. Illinois State).
•Castro’s Game 2 home run was her first in 10 career games against Georgia.
•Stewart hit safely in both games, extending her hitting streak to 14 games dating back to March 27.
•Gourley’s save in Game 2 was the fifth of her career.

WALTON’S WORDS
On Haeger’s importance to the Gators during her career and in 2015:
“To reflect on her whole career first, I think she’s been very consistent and steady with home runs [and] RBI. She’s been a big hitter for us. I know if she’s had as many big hits as she had today – today‘s [grand slam] was one of the biggest hits she’s had in her career because she was able to set that tone in the opening game of a series. Then she came out in the pitching circle and made adjustments. They were on her fairly early, and she made adjustments. Give her a lot of credit. I thought she did a really good job of changing things up. As an individual, today I was really proud of her to break that record and go on and have a good day.”

On Gourley notching another strong outing from the bullpen:
“As bad as we’ve been in relief, she’s been outstanding. I think that for her to be able to change the momentum of that game – Lele gave us everything she had, and give Georgia credit. I thought they got on her in the seventh, and Delanie came in and shut them down with three strikeouts, none bigger than the first one after the home run.”

On Sunday’s Game 3:
“For us, it’s about being able to be a little bit more productive offensively. We’ve had two nice first innings to score seven runs [in the first two games]. I’d like to see us come out and be more consistent, but still be productive. That was the key today – Briana Little coming in and giving us that insurance run that we needed in the seventh inning. Overall, we’ve got to be more consistent, tougher and harder to pitch to.”
— Florida Head Coach Tim Walton

UP NEXT
The Florida-Georgia series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Florida Sports Talk will have the radio broadcast with Corey Brooks (play-by-play) and former Gator All-American Megan Bush (analysis) on the call. In addition, a live stats link can be found on the schedule page on GatorZone.com.

[Deleted]

Game 3 of the series at UGALY has been cancelled due to inclement weather, thunderstorms and potential tornados. The game will likely not be rescheduled although no decision has been announced.

I hope it doesn't come down to the Gators losing the SEC by 1/2 game, but it will not be the first time that has happened in softball or baseball. If not rescheduled, the Gators will only play 23 SEC games.

The team is in Athens and has a bus so I don't see why they don't just play it tomorrow. The bad weather will be gone by then. However, that's too easy of a decision for the SEC to make. (shaking head)

UF closed the week at 4-0 and with a record of 43-4 (13-4).

The current SEC standings - LSU hosts Texas A&M Sunday and Monday nights on the SEC Network. Alabama took Auburn 2-1 and both are through for the weekend. Tennessee is at Mississippi State and Missouri is at gimme Arkansas today:

Week 11 • April 18, 2015

SEC Pct. All Pct. Home Away Neutral vs. Top 25 Last 10 Streak

Florida 13-4 .765 43-4 .915 20-2 11-2 12-0 15-3 10-1 W11
LSU 12-4 .750 40-5 .889 29-0 6-5 5-0 12-4 8-2 W2
Auburn 13-5 .722 41-8 .837 24-3 11-4 6-1 13-6 6-4 W1
Alabama 12-6 .667 35-10 .778 16-6 10-4 9-0 12-9 8-2 L1
Tennessee 10-7 .588 34-11 .756 17-4 8-4 9-3 9-6 7-3 W5
Missouri 10-7 .588 30-10 .750 6-3 10-5 14-2 6-8 7-3 W5
Georgia 11-9 .550 35-13 .729 22-7 6-4 7-2 5-10 6-4 L3
Texas A&M 8-8 .500 33-13 .717 23-6 3-6 7-1 5-8 6-4 L1
Mississippi State 9-11 .450 31-15 .674 19-9 9-5 3-1 7-9 5-5 L4
South Carolina 6-12 .333 31-17 .646 20-7 5-8 6-2 5-13 5-5 W1
Kentucky 5-13 .278 28-16 .636 11-5 8-10 9-1 6-12 3-7 L6
Ole Miss 5-13 .278 26-19 .578 10-8 6-7 10-4 2-14 4-6 W3
Arkansas 1-16 .059 15-29 .341 0-12 4-12 11-5 0-9 1-9 L3

[Deleted]

It's official, the game won't be rescheduled. UF will only play 23 SEC games:


Saturday April 18, 2015

Florida-Georgia Finale Rained Out


Athens, Ga. – Due to inclement weather in the Athens area, Sunday’s Florida-Georgia softball game has been canceled. There currently are no plans to reschedule the contest.

Next Up:

The Gators will return home for their final midweek game of the regular season, a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday against No. 10 Florida State in the Share a Little Sunshine Showdown. The SEC Network will televise the game, and Florida Sports Talk will have the radio broadcast with Adam Schick (play-by-play) and former Gator All-American Megan Bush (analysis) on the call. In addition, a live stats link can be found on the schedule page on GatorZone.com.

[Deleted]

Before it gets lost in time, this is Lauren Haeger's UF and SEC record breaking 66th homerun against UGALY in the 8-4 game 1 win:



It doesn't approach the national record which is in the 90s. A player on the Oklahoma Sooners broke that record yesterday too.

[oujour76]

Apr 19, 2015 12:59:00 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

Before it gets lost in time, this is Lauren Haeger's UF and SEC record breaking 66th homerun against UGALY in the 8-4 game 1 win:



It doesn't approach the national record which is in the 90s. A player on the Oklahoma Sooners broke that record yesterday too.

Lauren Chamberlain. Must be something about that first name.

And FTR, Chamberlain only tied the record yesterday. Too bad she missed 25 games last season...if not for that, she would have put that record in her rear view mirror a long time ago.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2015 13:47:23 GMT -5 oujour76 said:

Apr 19, 2015 12:59:00 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

Before it gets lost in time, this is Lauren Haeger's UF and SEC record breaking 66th homerun against UGALY in the 8-4 game 1 win:



It doesn't approach the national record which is in the 90s. A player on the Oklahoma Sooners broke that record yesterday too.

Lauren Chamberlain. Must be something about that first name.

And FTR, Chamberlain only tied the record yesterday. Too bad she missed 25 games last season...if not for that, she would have put that record in her rear view mirror a long time ago.

Clearly, Big 12 pitching isn't as good as Big 12 QBs where the top 5 QBs are better than Heisman Trophy winners who have won national championships. Seriously, hitting that many homeruns shows Lauren Chamberlain is a great player. Was she drafted into pro softball?

UF's Lauren made her record while both playing in the field, designated player, and pitching. Her first three years, she was the second pitcher behind Hannah Rogers. This year, she is the ace of the staff at 20-0. On top of all that, she's managed to set new UF and SEC homerun hitting records. Haeger is a high draft pick into pro softball.

[oujour76]

Apr 19, 2015 15:32:22 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

Clearly, Big 12 pitching isn't as good as Big 12 QBs where the top 5 QBs are better than Heisman Trophy winners who have won national championships. Seriously, hitting that many homeruns shows Lauren Chamberlain is a great player. Was she drafted into pro softball?

Yes, she was drafted.

USSSA Pride Select Lauren Chamberlain as #1 Pick in 2015 NPF College Draft

NASHVILLE, TN – April 2, 2015 – The 2015 NPF College Draft presented by Bownet took place at the CMA Theater inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum last night where 34 athletes from 10 different conferences were selected. Lauren Chamberlain from Oklahoma was the #1 pick for the USSSA Pride. Oklahoma teammate Shelby Pendley was selected #2 by the USSSA Pride making NPF history by becoming the first players to be selected back to back as the #1 and #2 pick in the NPF College Draft.

www.profastpitch.com/news/npfnews/?article_id=2305

[Deleted]

Lauren Haeger went #23 in the draft:

Fourth Round

Market Pick – Renada Davis – SS - Dallas Charge (NC State)

16. Kahley Novak – SS/2B - Dallas Charge (Arizona State)

17. Emilee Koerner – OF - USSSA Pride (Notre Dame)

18. Sammy Marshall – SS - Chicago Bandits (Western Illinois)

19. Griffin Joiner – C - Akron Racers (Kentucky)

20. Devon Wallace – UT - PA Rebellion (Arkansas)

21. Lauren Haeger – RHP - Dallas Charge (Florida)

Haeger is a RHP, but she can also play 1st base.

[Deleted]

Next Up: Top 10 ranked Florida State in Gainesville on Wednesday night. The Gators won 5-1 in Tallahassee 2 weeks ago. UF comes by its #1 RPI deservedly. The game will be televised by the SEC Network at 7 PM EDT.

UF's last 6 SEC games will be 3 with Texas A&M in Gainesville and 3 with Missouri in Columbia to close out the regular season. All are must win games with LSU playing outstanding softball and both Alabama and Auburn having the schedule advantage of playing 1 win in SEC play Arkansas.


2015 Southeastern Conference Softball


STANDINGS (as of Apr 20, 2015)

SEC Overall
Team W L T Pct W L T Pct
Florida............. 13 4 0 .765 43 4 0 .915 - Texas A&M; at Missouri
LSU................. 13 5 0 .722 41 6 0 .872 - at Missouri; Auburn
Auburn.............. 13 5 0 .722 41 8 0 .837 - Arkansas; at LSU
Alabama............. 12 6 0 .667 35 10 0 .778 - Tennessee; at Arkansas
Tennessee........... 11 7 0 .611 35 11 0 .761 - at Alabama; Kentucky
Missouri............ 11 7 0 .611 31 10 0 .756 - LSU; Florida
Georgia............. 11 9 0 .550 35 13 0 .729
Texas A&M........... 9 9 0 .500 34 14 0 .708
Mississippi State... 9 12 0 .429 31 16 0 .660
South Carolina...... 6 12 0 .333 31 17 0 .646
Kentucky............ 5 13 0 .278 28 16 0 .636
Ole Miss............ 5 13 0 .278 26 19 0 .578
Arkansas............ 1 17 0 .056 15 30 0 .333

[Deleted]

UF is ranked #1 in both softball polls this week. The Gators have won 11 in a row, have the #1 RPI, were tied with LSU for the SEC lead after weekend play, and won both games at #12 Georgia last weekend. The top 4 in both polls: 1 Florida, 2 Oregon, 3 LSU, 4 Michigan.

I think a case should have been made for LSU to be #1 through Sunday play for the polls. LSU was tied with UF in the SEC standings and had the 2 of 3 wins in Gainesville from early in the SEC season. If I had a vote on Monday morning, my top 4 would have been; 1 LSU, 2 Florida, 3 Oregon, 4 Michigan. However, LSU was demoted to #3 in the polls after winning 2 of 3 at Tennessee the weekend before. IMO, that was a boneheaded decision. The fact that LSU lost game 3 at home on Monday night to Texas A&M had no bearing on this weeks polls

I'm glad that the voters in the USA Today poll finally got the ranking between UF and Oregon right. UF was 4-0 and Oregon was 3-0 for the week, but the pollsters jumped the Gators over the duckies anyway. UF won two over Oregon on neutral fields so the Gators should not have dropped behind Oregon. By every measure, UF is a better team than Oregon. If Oregon was rated above UF, the voters should have put Michigan, the #4 ranked team, over UF as well even though UF beat the wolverines twice on neutral fields. I fail to see any difference between #2 Oregon and #4 Michigan.

[Deleted]

Tuesday April 21, 2015

No. 1 Gators Welcome No. 10 FSU for Second Installment of Share a Little Sunshine Showdown


Florida vs. Florida State Game Notes


Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked Gator Softball team (43-4) will host No. 10 Florida State (37-11) on Wednesday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The midweek game marks the second 2015 matchup in the Share a Little Sunshine Showdown, following the Gators’ 5-1 victory in Tallahassee on April 8.


QUICKLY: Florida Team Notes

· Florida is coming off a rain-interrupted weekend that saw the Gators sweep a Saturday doubleheader at No. 11 Georgia.

· The Orange and Blue are on an 11-game win streak; the run includes six victories over ranked teams and three nonleague wins.
The Gators have defeated Sunshine State rivals in their last three midweek games, beating UNF 2-1 in eight innings on April 1, Florida State by a 5-1 score in Tallahassee on April 8 and USF by a 7-0 count on April 15 in Gainesville.

· UF is 30-0 in nonconference action, and Wednesday’s tilt marks the Gators’ final non-SEC game of the regular season.

· Dating back to May 2014, Florida has won 36 consecutive nonleague games.


SETTING THE STAGE: Florida State

· Florida leads the all-time series, 20-14; this includes a 9-7 advantage in Gainesville.

· UF has won 12 of the last 13 meetings against FSU.

· Before last season, the Gators had won seven consecutive home games against the Seminoles dating back to 2005.

· Since Tim Walton became Florida’s head coach before the 2006 season, the Orange and Blue are 14-3 vs. the Garnet and Gold.

· The UF-FSU matchup features 22 players from the Sunshine State (UF - eight, FSU - 14).


BROADCAST INFORMATION

The Florida-FSU game will air on the SEC Network, with live streaming available via WatchESPN. Mark Neely (play-by-play) and former U.S. Olympian Michele Smith (analysis) will call the game.

All 2015 Florida Softball games can be heard on Florida Sports Talk (1230-AM in Gainesville, 900-AM in Ocala). Adam Schick and former Gator All-American Megan Bush will form the broadcast team.

LIVE STATS

A live stats link for the Gators-Seminoles contest can be found on the UF schedule page.

[Deleted]

In UF's final midweek game, the Gators shutout the nolies 5-0:


#10 Florida State 0 (RECORD 37-12)

#1 Florida 5 (RECORD 44-4)


TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E L
FSU---0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 4
UF----1 0 2 0 2 0 X 5 6 0 3

Final - W: Lauren Haeger (21-0); L: Lacey Waldrop (24-6);

Attendance: 1,979

Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked Gator Softball team defeated No. 10 Florida State 5-0 on Wednesday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Senior right-hander Lauren Haeger ran her 2015 winning streak to 21 games as she allowed four hits and recorded four strikeouts over five innings. With the win, Florida (44-4) will complete the regular season with a 31-0 record in nonconference games.


Next Up: #25 Texas A&M In Gainesville

On the final home series of the regular season this weekend against Texas A&M:
“I told our players yesterday that our main focus is not on the SEC [title] – our main focus is to try to win every at-bat, every inning and ultimately the game. We’re going to take no different approach on Senior Weekend. It’s an opportunity to reflect on each of our six seniors’ careers. They’ve all meant a lot to us, whether it’s in the game, in practice, in the classroom or on the road. In their own way, they’re all special people to our program. They’re all part of a national championship. Even though they’re graduating, they’ll never be lost from the record books and the memories of our program and what we’ve built here.”
— Florida Head Coach Tim Walton