For the second straight day, Hannah Rogers took the circle. However, her second go-around wasn't as pretty as her first.
In the second game of No. 6 Florida's series against No. 3 Alabama, coach Tim Walton stuck with his All-AmericN sophomore hurler to once again face off against Alabama's own elite pitcher in Jackie Traina.
Although Rogers got the better of Traina in Friday's matchup with a 4-1 Gators' victory, the Crimson Tide got revenge on Saturday in blowout fashion. Florida suffered its worst loss of the season after falling to Alabama to even the series at one apiece.
With the loss, Florida missed out on an opportunity to grab a share of the regular-season Southeastern Conference title.
Less than a day removed from their clutch performance on Friday, the Gators struggled even to get one run across the board and surrendered a season-high nine runs. If it wasn't for a two out fifth-inning sacrifice fly by senior Michelle Moultrie, Florida would have been run ruled in five innings.
Instead, the Gators held out one more inning until they were run ruled in the sixth to the Crimson Tide. Florida doubled its previous largest margin of defeat on Saturday with a 9-1 loss. Previously to Saturday, the Gators biggest loss came less than a week agk on April 29 to Kentucky in a 5-1 defeat.
The Crimson Tide started the flood of runs in the second inning with a leadoff home run. Alabama went on to plate two more runs in the same inning.
In the third, the No. 3 team in the nation picked up where they left off by scoring five runs against freshman Alyssa Bache, who came in relief for Rogers to start the third inning. Rogers' two-inning start was her shortest start of the year and Bache's six earned runs allowed was the most given up in one outing in her short career.
At the plate, the Gators struck out six times while being limited to just four hits. No Gator had mord than one hit on the day and junior Ensley Gammel was the sole player on her squad to have an extfa-base hit.
Florida will try to take the series in Sunday's rubber match that begins at 3 p.m.
