The Gators still can’t overcome the Crimson Tide.
In Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship game, No. 7 Florida was run ruled by No. 3 Alabama for the second time in one week. UF fell to ‘Bama 10-1 in five innings Saturday.
Coach Tim Walton’s squad was run ruled for the first time all year exactly one week ago today when the Gators fell to the Tide 9-1 in Tuscaloosa for the final regular season series of the year. Back in Tuscaloosa for the SEC Tournament, Florida was able to advance to the championship behind stellar pitching and clutch hitting.
Unfortunately for the Gators, neither the pitching nor offense came through in their attempt to capture their first SEC Tournament title since 2009.
Lauren Haeger, who tossed a complete game two hitter in a winning effort against LSU earlier in quarterfinals, had her worst performance of the year in the circle. The freshman hurler allowed a career high eight runs in just three innings of work in her second start of this tournament.
She surrendered a two-run triple to Kaila Hunt in the first frame which put the Gators in the hole early. Entering Saturday’s game, Florida was 5-10 when it allows its opponent to score first. The Gators kept up the trend on Saturday as well.
Although Florida was able to cut the lead in half in the second with a Kasey Fagan RBI single, Alabama broke away the next frame.
The Crimson Tide, the NCAA leaders in home runs, chalked up their 89th and 90th homers of the season in the third inning to help put the game out of reach with a six-run inning. The explosion of offense by Alabama ran Haeger out of the game and forced Walton to put Hannah Rogers in the circle.
Rogers allowed two additional runs in the fourth, which gave the Tide the minimum eight-run lead necessary to run rule an opponent.
The Gators’ last chance came when Haeger stepped in the box with two outs and the bases loaded. To keep the game going, Florida needed to score two runs. Instead, Haeger popped out to finalize the team’s worst loss of the season.
Walton said he appreciated the passionate fans that came out throughout the tournament and tipped his cap to Alabama, which captured the regular season title and the tournament title in the same season for the first time since 2010. It is their fifth overall tournament title in school history.
After being rejected a shot at capturing a fourth SEC title on Saturday, the Gators will move on to the NCAA Regionals and begin their journey for a fifth consecutive Women’s College World Series appearance.
