Florida Softball - National Champion 14 15

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Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked University of Florida softball team extended its winning streak to 13 games on Friday night as the Gators defeated No. 25 Texas A&M, 7-3, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. UF rallied from a 2-1 fourth-inning deficit as Lauren Haeger tied a school record with her 22nd consecutive win to open the season.

UF's record advanced to 45-4 overall, 14-4 SEC.

Box Score - UK should have had 1 less hit and UF 1 error. Katie Medina missed a grounder she routinely gets allowing the UK batter on base. However, Medina is a great defensive shortstop who makes difficult plays look routine. I can somewhat understand the scorer allowing a hit as most shortstops couldn't have made the play:

Score by Innings-----------------R--H--E
-----------------------------------------
Texas A&M............000 201 0 - 3--6--1
Florida..................100 312 X - 7-11--0
-----------------------------------------

Texas A&M ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Rachel fox L,19-11 6.0 11 7 6 1 4 1 0 2 0 27 33 8 6 112 3.01

Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Lauren Haeger W,22-0 7.0 6 3 3 2 6 0 0 1 0 26 29 8 6 92 1.25

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Florida's Graduating Seniors:

www.gatorzone.com/gallery/photos/3115/tn-4-sb-tamu-2-JimBurgess.jpg


UF won game 2 9-5 rallying after falling behind Texas A&M 5-0. Delanie Gourley, like at Georgia, showed her worth to the team giving relief for Aleshia Ocasio pitching 4 2/3 innings to pick up her 9th win. It's great to see her getting her confidence back. It will only help UF going forward. UF's record advanced to 46-5 (15-4). Texas A&M has never been swept in SEC play including last weekend when the aggies became the only team to beat LSU in game 3 in Baton Rouge. Something has to give tomorrow, UF's 12 game winning streak of aTm's SEC not being swept streak:


Score by Innings--------------------R--H--E
---------------------------------------------
Texas A&M............013 100 0------5-10--0
Florida..................000 711 X------9-10--0
---------------------------------------------

Texas A&M ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Katie Marks 5.0 6 3 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 21 23 10 2 112 3.06

Lauren Ainsley 0.0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 6.58

Rachel fox L,19-12 1.0 4 5 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 6 10 1 1 36 3.18

Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Aleshia Ocasio 2.1 6 4 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 13 13 1 5 46 1.82

Delanie Gourley W,9-1 4.2 4 1 1 1 4 1 0 0 0 16 17 3 5 66 2.10



Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked University of Florida softball team saluted its senior class with a 9-5 win over No. 25 Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The Gators knocked seven extra-base hits on the day, including two home runs and a double from a pair of fourth-year players, and Delanie Gourley came out of the bullpen to earn the win.

Following the pregame Senior Day ceremonies, the Aggies took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run to lead off the second. Texas A&M added three more runs in the following frame on an RBI single and a two-run homer. A second solo shot to lead off the fourth raised the visitors’ advantage to 5-0.

Florida got on the board and took the lead with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Kirsti Merritt lined a leadoff double into the right-center field gap to set up a two-run home run to straightaway center off the bat of Lauren Haeger. Three walks loaded the bases for the Orange and Blue to bring up Taylore Fuller, who launched a grand slam down the left-field line to put UF ahead 6-5. Kelsey Stewart followed with a single to center, advancing to third on Nicole DeWitt’s double down the left-field line before scoring on Merritt’s sacrifice fly.

Bailey Castro continued the scoring for Florida when she led off the fifth with a home run to left. Merritt then started a two-out rally in the sixth with a triple down the right-field line, and senior Francesca Martinez scored as a pinch-runner on the next play, a Haeger double to raise the lead to 9-5.

The four-run cushion was enough for Gourley, who worked the final 4.2 innings in relief of Aleshia Ocasio, allowing one earned run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts to improve to 9-1 on the year.

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UF swept Texas A&M with a walk off 9-1 win in 5 innings. It was the Gators 15th win in a row and UF finished the month of April 15-0:


Score by Innings R H E
--------------------------------------
Texas A&M........... 100 00 - 1 1 2
Florida............. 320 13 - 9 12 0
--------------------------------------


Note: 2 outs, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.


Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked Gator Softball team completed a three-game sweep of No. 25 Texas A&M with a 9-1 (5 innings) win on Sunday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Seven Gators scored and eight players had at least one hit. Senior Lauren Haeger (23-0) allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out seven to set a school record for the best start to a season in program history.

The Aggies (34-17, 9-12 SEC) took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run to left-center in the top of the first, and Florida answered with three runs in the home half. Kelsey Stewart tripled to center to lead off, coming home with the tying run on a single up the middle by Nicole DeWitt. Back-to-back infield singles by Kirsti Merritt and Haeger brought the freshman home to give the Gators a 2-1 lead before a pair of two-out hits by Taylore Fuller and Janell Wheaton allowed Merritt to score UF’s third run.

Florida raised its advantage to 5-1 with two runs in the second inning. Justine McLean led off with an infield single and then stole second, moving to third on Stewart’s single and coming home on a productive groundout by DeWitt. The junior, who had stolen second after her base hit, scored from third on another RBI groundout from Merritt.

The Orange and Blue (47-4, 16-4 SEC) padded their lead with a run in the fourth, starting with another infield hit from McLean. The sophomore then stole second and came home on DeWitt’s RBI single up the middle. UF then plated three runs to win the game in the fifth. Fuller drew a walk and advanced when Wheaton reached on a fielder’s choice to set up a two-run single by pinch-hitter Jessica Damico that scored Fuller and brought in Wheaton on a throwing error. Stewart sealed the mercy-rule victory on the next play with an RBI single to left-center, producing the final margin in the Gators’ 9-1 win.


NOTABLES
•Haeger’s win was her 23rd in a row to begin the season, passing Stephanie Brombacher (22-0 in 2009) for the best start to a campaign in UF annals.
•Florida earned the 900th win in program history.
•This marks the second consecutive year the Gators have notched a milestone in the series finale against Texas A&M; last season, UF gave Head Coach Tim Walton his 600th career win on Easter Sunday.
•The Gators won their 11th straight conference game and their 15th consecutive contest overall.
•UF has won six consecutive conference series.
•Florida logged its fourth straight series sweep.
•The Gators finished the month of April with a perfect 15-0 record.
•The Orange and Blue one-hit an opponent for the seventh time this season.
•Stewart recorded her team-leading fifth three-hit game of the year, and tied her career-best with an 18-game hit streak (also: 2/22-3/23).
•DeWitt posted her 10th multi-hit contest and her sixth multi-RBI game this season.
•McLean notched her fifth multi-hit game and scored twice for the second time this year (also: 3/28 at Mississippi State).

UP NEXT
Florida opens its final regular-season series on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. ET game at No. 15 Missouri. The contest will air on SEC Network+ through participating TV providers only via WatchESPN. 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.

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After taking LSU 2-1 in Columbia, the tigers will be hosting #1 UF as the 11th/13th ranked team in the nation depending on the poll. Mizzou losing the Monday night game against LSU eliminated the tigers from the SEC championship race.

I expect the tigers to be sky high, what's new as UF gets everyone's best shot as the #1 ranked team and the defending national champion, playing the spoiler role. Sammie Fagan, Mizzou starting 2nd baseman who was forced out of UF along with her two sisters, will probably take the series to a personal level.

UF leads the SEC and must win one game plus match whatever Auburn does at LSU to lockdown the SEC championship. Bama is 2 1/2 games back, but the tide is playing 3 at Arkansas, the worst team in the SEC. It'll be a shocker if bama doesn't win all three games in blowouts. The one win will eliminate LSU who also is 2 1/2 games back. Auburn is 1/2 game back. The 1/2 game difference is the result of the third game at UGA being cancelled due to thunderstorms with heavy rains.

Any team that is capable of taking 2 of 3 from LSU is capable of giving UF a hard series. Mizzou will be that and then some this weekend.

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Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked Florida Softball team (47-4, 16-4 SEC) will visit No. 11 Missouri (37-11, 13-8 SEC) to close the regular season. Games times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday (all times Eastern). Florida travels to Columbia, Mo., in search of its fifth Southeastern Conference championship and its fourth in Tim Walton’s 10 seasons.


Florida Team Notes:

· Florida is coming off a three-game sweep of No. 25 Texas A&M on Senior Weekend.

· The Orange and Blue are on a 15-game win streak; the run includes 10 victories over ranked teams and four nonleague wins.

· UF has won 11 consecutive SEC games dating back to April 3.

· Florida is 6-1 in six conference series this season, and has won six straight SEC sets.

· The Orange and Blue have 900 all-time wins in program history.

· Walton has 198 career SEC wins, and is looking to become the fifth active SEC head coach to win 200 games in league play (also: Lu Harris-Champer, Patrick Murphy, Karen Weekly, Ralph Weekly).



SETTING THE STAGE: Missouri

· Florida leads the all-time series, 5-3; the teams have never met in Columbia.

· Last season, the Tigers took two of three games in Gainesville.

· Gator senior Jessica Damico (Gray Summit) is a Missouri native.


BROADCAST INFORMATION

The opening game and the finale of the Florida-Missouri series will air SEC Network+ via WatchESPN through participating TV providers only. Saturday’s Game 2 will be televised on the SEC Network, with Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf on the call.

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Game 1 at #11 Mizzou goes to the Gators:


#1 Florida 7 (RECORD 48-4)

#11 Missouri 6 (RECORD 37-12)


TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E L
UF 2 0 0 3 1 0 1 7 11 0 10
MIZ 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 6 8 2 6


Final - W: Delanie Gourley (10-1); L: Tori Finucane (18-7)

Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go
Lauren Haeger 2.0 4 4 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 9 11 1 3

Delanie Gourley W,10-1 5.0 4 2 2 2 4 1 0 1 0 19 22 4 7


Last time out Delanie Gourley saved Aleshia Ocasio pitching 4.2 innings and got the win. Gourley saved Haeger tonight pitching 5 innings and got the win. Not only is she getting her groove and confidence back, Delanie is proving to be very valuable coming out of the bullpen to save games. She could become the 3rd starter again if needed, but being the bullpen ace has its advantages for the team.


Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked University of Florida softball team won its 16th straight game on Friday night, defeating No. 11 Missouri 7-6 at University Field. Sophomore southpaw Delanie Gourley worked five innings out of the bullpen to earn the win for Florida, which won Game 1 of a Southeastern Conference series for the ninth consecutive time dating back to last season.



The Orange and Blue (48-4, 17-4 SEC) got off to a quick start in the first with four straight singles against Missouri lefty Paige Lowary, including an RBI base hit by Kirsti Merritt that brought home Kelsey Stewart with the game’s first run. Merritt was thrown out trying to steal second during Lauren Haeger’s at-bat, but the double-steal attempt allowed Nicole DeWitt to score and raise the Gator lead to 2-0.



Missouri hit a solo home run and a two-run shot in the bottom of the first to go in front 3-2. Another solo homer in the second increased the Tiger lead to two runs. Florida responded with three runs in the fourth to take a 5-4 advantage. Taylor Schwarz singled and advanced on a fielding error to lead off the inning, scoring on an Aubree Munro double down the right-field line. Stewart singled two batters later to set up a two-run base hit by DeWitt that put the Gators ahead.



Florida added an insurance run in the fifth. Taylore Fuller led off with a single, advancing to second on a Schwarz flyout and then scoring on Munro’s RBI base hit up the middle. Missouri answered with a solo home run in the home half to make the score 6-5. Two singles and a wild pitch led to a game-tying run for the Tigers (37-12, 13-9 SEC) in the sixth.



The Gators won the game in the seventh. Schwarz was hit by a pitch before advancing on a Munro sacrifice and a Missouri throwing error before scoring on Stewart’s sacrifice fly to produce the final margin in UF’s 7-6 victory.

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Game 2 at Mizzou goes to UF 9-6:


Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Florida............. 014 112 0 - 9 10 1
Missouri............ 010 003 2 - 6 9 1
-----------------------------------------

Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go
Aleshia Ocasio W,16-3 6.2 8 6 6 0 3 0 0 1 0 29 30 9 8

Delanie Gourley S,4 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1


Columbia, Mo. – The No. 1-ranked University of Florida softball team won its seventh consecutive Southeastern Conference series on Saturday with a 9-6 victory at No. 11 Missouri. Freshman Aleshia Ocasio worked 6.2 innings to improve to 16-3 on the season, while sophomore southpaw Delanie Gourley recorded the final out to stave off a Tiger comeback attempt and notch her fourth save.



Florida (49-4, 18-4 SEC) opened the scoring when Taylore Fuller led off the second inning with a home run to left-center field. Missouri (37-13, 13-10 SEC) tied the game at 1 in the home half with a two-out RBI single.



The Gators broke out with four runs in the third to take a 5-1 lead. Kelsey Stewart drew a leadoff walk, advancing when Lauren Haeger reached on an error. Both runners moved up two bases on a passed ball before Stewart scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Kirsti Merritt followed with a double to left-center to bring home Haeger before Bailey Castro launched a two-run home run to raise the Gators’ edge to four.



UF scored for a third consecutive inning in the fourth. Stewart hit a one-out single up the middle, advancing to third on Nicole DeWitt’s knock through the right side and then scoring on Merritt’s sacrifice fly. The runs kept coming in the fifth as Castro hit her second home run of the game, a solo shot to left-center that made the score 7-1.



The Gators drew five walks in the sixth, the last two coming with the bases loaded to raise the UF advantage to eight. Two singles set up a three-run home run for the Tigers in the home half and cut the Florida lead to 9-4. A solo shot and an RBI single in the seventh made the score 9-6 before Gourley entered and induced a groundout to seal the victory.

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UF is 1/2 game ahead of Auburn in the SEC standings going into the final regular season game. UF closes the regular season at Mizzou today.

While UF has won the first two games at Mizzou, LSU has lost the first two games to AU at home, 2-1 and 1-0. What's surprising is AU is known for their offense far more than their pitching and defense, but AU has totally shutdown a dynamic LSU offense.

Since LSU is asleep at the switch right now, it may take a UF sweep at Mizzou to nail down the SEC championship. It's amazing UF can't count on an LSU team that took two wins from UF in Gainesville to open SEC play to win 1 game at home in their weekend series with AU.

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2015 SEC Champion

pbs.twimg.com/media/CEHMTsUVAAAuALv.jpg:large

After losing the final game at Mizzou to take the series 2-1, UF had to wait for LSU to beat Auburn 7-1 to become the 2015 SEC Champion.

The top 4 seeds in the SEC tourney who get the Wednesday bye:

1. UF
2. AU
3. Bama
4. LSU

UF's final regular season record; 49-5 (18-5).

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UP NEXT:

Florida will open play at the SEC Tournament in Baton Rouge, La., on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET against the winner of Wednesday’s Texas A&M-South Carolina game. The SEC Network will televise the contest. 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 will be available on the schedule page on GatorZone.com.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After the Gators won the Southeastern Conference championship on Sunday, SEC Player of the Year Kelsey Stewart and SEC Pitcher of the Year Lauren Haeger lead a group of six Florida Softball players to receive All-SEC accolades. The awards were voted on by the conference’s 13 head coaches and announced Tuesday by the league office.

Junior Kirsti Merritt joins Haeger and Stewart as First Team All-SEC selections, while infielder Nicole DeWitt and utility player Aleshia Ocasio earned spots on the Freshman All-SEC team. Florida is the top fielding team in the country according to the latest NCAA statistics, and Stewart and double-play partner Kathlyn Medina represent the Gators on the SEC All-Defensive team.

Stewart becomes the fifth Gator to be named SEC Player of the Year, and the first since Michelle Moultrie in 2012. The Wichita, Kan., native has been chosen to an All-SEC Team in each of her three years (2014 – First Team, All-Defensive; 2013 – Second Team, Freshman All-SEC). Haeger takes home UF’s third SEC Pitcher of the Year award, and the first since Stacey Nelson won the honor for the second consecutive season in 2009. The right-hander earns her third career All-SEC selection (2013 – First Team; 2012 – Freshman All-SEC). In Head Coach Tim Walton’s 10 seasons, the Orange and Blue have earned four conference Player of the Year selections and three Pitcher of the Year accolades.

Merritt receives her second All-SEC accolade (2013 – Freshman All-SEC), while Medina gains all-conference status for the first time in her career.

Florida now has accumulated 41 All-SEC selections by 19 players in Walton’s tenure and 65 all-conference honors in program history. The Gators have received 18 SEC All-Defensive accolades by 11 players since the league introduced the award in 2008. The Orange and Blue have had 27 Freshman All-SEC selections in the Walton era and 30 dating back to the accolade’s inception in 2004.

Below is a look at the accomplishments of each of Florida’s All-SEC performers:



Kelsey Stewart

SEC Player of the Year

First Team All-SEC

SEC All-Defensive

*Ranks among league leaders in hitting (fifth, .452), hits (first, 84), runs scored (third, 63), doubles (third, 16), triples (T-1st, eight), stolen bases (T-8th, 22), and on-base percentage (12th, .502)

*In league play, leads the SEC with a .536 average that is 78 points ahead of the No. 2 hitter

*Has 45 hits against conference opponents – 12 more than any other player

*Has turned eight double plays, which is tied for eighth in the conference

*Has committed just five errors in 147 chances

*Named SEC Player of the Week once (Week 11)



Lauren Haeger

SEC Pitcher of the Year

First Team All-SEC

*Holds a 23-0 record, which marks the second-best start to a season for a pitcher in league history

*Ranks among the conference’s best in ERA (second, 1.46), victories (third, 23), strikeouts (fifth, 164) and opposing batting average (sixth, .194)

*Earned the win in Game 1 of each of Florida’s eight SEC series

*Is one of two pitchers in the country to be undefeated with at least 20 wins

*Holds the SEC record for career home runs (67) and the Florida benchmark for career RBI (248)

*Stands among league leaders in RBI (eighth, 59), home runs (T-10th, 15), walks (fourth, 41) and slugging (15th, .689)

*Named SEC Pitcher of the Week three times (Weeks 2, 9 and 11)



Kirsti Merritt

First Team All-SEC

*Has set career bests in hitting (.331), doubles (11), slugging percentage (.609) and on-base percentage (.513)

*Ranks among league leaders in on-base percentage (ninth), doubles (T-11th), stolen bases (12th, 17)

*In conference play, stands among the conference’s best in in on-base percentage (10th, .500) and doubles (T-5th, six)



Nicole DeWitt

Freshman All-SEC

*Ranks among team leaders in hitting (third, .345)

*Stands among the Gators’ all-time freshman leaders in on-base percentage (first, .486), hitting (fourth)

*Has not committed an error in 56 chances

*Named SEC Freshman of the Week twice (Weeks 9 and 11)



Aleshia Ocasio

Freshman All-SEC

*Ranks among the SEC’s best in ERA (eighth, 2.07), opposing batting average (seventh, .204), strikeouts (10th, 135), wins (T-10th, 16), saves (T-9th, two)

*In league play, stands among league leaders in wins (T-11th, six), strikeouts (12th, 47) and ERA (15th, 3.80)

*Owns wins over seven ranked opponents



Kathlyn Medina

SEC All-Defensive

*2015 Senior CLASS Award top-10 finalist

*Has had a hand in nine of the Gators’ 17 double plays



Florida will open play at the SEC Tournament in Baton Rouge, La., on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET against the winner of Wednesday’s Texas A&M-South Carolina game. The SEC Network will televise the contest. 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 will be available on the schedule page on GatorZone.com.

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Gatorzone finally gives some love to the softball team for winning the 2015 SEC championship - Picture of the right field wall with the 2015 addition:

pbs.twimg.com/media/CEQf-5CW8AIB0b5.jpg

Katie Seahole Presley Stadium Right Field Wall

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Baton Rouge, La. – The 1 seed University of Florida softball team defeated 9 seed South Carolina, 10-1 (5 innings), on Thursday at Tiger Park in a quarterfinal matchup in the SEC Tournament. The Gators had six singles and three extra-base hits, and benefited from two Gamecock errors. Senior right-hander Lauren Haeger improved to 24-0 with four shutout innings, while freshman Aleshia Ocasio worked the fifth to seal the victory.

Up next - 5 seed Tennessee in the semifinal. The vols upset 4 seed LSU 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

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UF lost 2-1 to UT in the SEC tourney semifinal. Early on, the batters weren't aggressive. Later when they fell behind 2-0, the batters started swinging for the fences and chasing rise balls way high out of the strike zone. One would think a team with this much experience would have done a better job at the plate. (shaking head)


WALTON’S WORDS
On what the Gators need to work on based on Friday’s game:
“My main concerns have always been getting this offense to be better [when they’re behind] in counts, be better with two strikes and be a tougher out. It’s also about being more aggressive in hitter’s counts. I felt like today we were taking some pretty decent pitches and swinging at bad pitches We’ve got to be better at that. I thought that [Tennessee pitcher Erin Gabriel] did a good job today. She changed speeds and pitched backwards a little bit, but she really did a good job.”

On how the SEC Tournament can prepare the team for the NCAA Tournament:
“If it’s any sign of what we looked like today, not very well. On Sunday, we won a [SEC regular-season] championship. I didn’t think we looked very good on Sunday or today, so that’s a big question for me. We’ve got to toughen this group up this week and get them a little bit better in the clutch.”
— Florida Head Coach Tim Walton

UP NEXT
Florida will find out its NCAA Tournament seed and Regional site and opponents on Sunday, when the tournament field will be announced at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

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UF is the #1 national seed in the NCAA tourney:


www.ncaa.com/news/softball/article/2015-05-10/regional-matchups-announced-division-i-softball-championship

www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/softball/d1


The top 8 national seeds host through the super regionals. The 16 national seeds:

1. Florida
2. Oregon
3. Michigan
4. Auburn
5. LSU
6. Alabama
7. UCLA
8. Tennessee
9. Florida State
10. Missouri
11. Oklahoma
12. Arizona
13. Louisiana Lafayette
14. Georgia
15. James Madison
16. Notre Dame

What the pollsters wouldn't make right, the committee did. Florida is the #1 seed, not Oregon.