For the first time since 2009, the Gators will compete for the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship.
Behind extra-inning heroics by Bailey Castro, No. 7 Florida defeated No. 5 Tennessee in the first SEC Semifinal game of the day on Friday. After neither team could muster up more than one run a piece after seven, someone on the struggling Gators’ offense needed to step up in the clutch.
When Castro entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth, she had her chance. And she delivered.
“What it’s going to take win in the postseason is getting clutch hits,” Walton said. “Whether it’s with runners in scoring position or pinch-hit home runs.”
The power-hitting freshman launched a full-count pitch over the wall in left center to give her team a slim one run lead, which was enough to down the Lady Vols for the third time this year. With six home runs in 77 at bats this season, Castro homers approximately once every 13 times she steps in the batter’s box, which is the second best ratio behind Kelsey Horton.
She credits the hit to doing her homework while on the bench.
“Even when I’m not playing, I was watching batters and taking notes on what they were doing and the adjustments they were making to put that all into one at bat,” Castro said. “Every game I’m getting more and more comfortable.”
Coach Tim Walton’s squad improved to a perfect 4-0 on the season in extra-inning games.
Thanks to a dominant start by Hannah Rogers, Florida was able to make it to the eighth frame all knotted up. Rogers rebounded from two miserable starts against Alabama in the final series of the regular season to excel against Tennessee and get her first win since May 4.
The sophomore ace tossed seven innings without even surrendering an earned run (a Katie Medina error allowed the Lady Vols to score an unearned run in the first inning).
Lauren Haeger, who hurled a complete game Thursday to advance the Gators to the semifinal, closed out Tennessee for her second save of the year.
Although a 2-1 final score would not normally indicate strong offensive performances by either team, Sami Fagan stood out at the plate with one of her best outings of her young career. Fagan set a career high in hits in a game with four and hit 1.000 in a game for the first time since Feb. 11 when she went 3-for-3 against Illinois State.
Fagan also scored the Gators’ first run of the game in the third thanks to a Cheyenne Coyle RBI single. In addition, the younger of the two Fagan sisters was the only Florida player to record a stolen base on Friday.
“That was a big win for us, especially for where we’re at in the RPI and trying to make a late season run,” Walton said. “What a great tournament, so far, for everybody.”
On Saturday, the Gators will compete for the SEC Tournament Championship against No. 1 seed Alabama, who defeated Florida for the conference regular season title in the last game of the season.
