For the first time since 2009, Florida swept the regular season and Southeastern Conference Tournament titles.
No. 1 seed Florida (52-7) – expected by many before the season to experience a rebuilding year with 12 underclassmen – defeated third-seeded Missouri (35-11) 10-4 Saturday night at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Ky., to win its first SEC Tournament title since 2009 and third in school history.
UF has now won both the conference tournament and regular season titles in 2008, 2009 and 2013.
“I’m proud of my players of how they competed and how they composed themselves,” coach Tim Walton said. “The celebration you saw was long overdue. The celebration on the field was more of a carryover from last week’s championship to this week’s championship.”
Florida chose to start sophomore Lauren Haeger at pitcher, as junior ace Hannah Rogers pitched seven innings in UF’s 9-5 victory against No. 5 seed Georgia. But Haeger had a rough start against the Tigers.
In the first inning, Missouri’s Emily Crane scored on RBI double to left center from Nicole Hudson as Tigers took 1-0 lead. During her first pitch of the second inning, Haeger gave up a homer to Mizzou’s Kelsea Roth as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead. The home run was Roth’s third of the SEC Tournament.
“I told my team before the game that no matter how many we are down or ahead to make sure you keep going and not get caught up in the score,” Walton said. “This Missouri team has been down and scored a ton. They also have the blood in the water mentality, as they will pound you once they sense you are down. We just tried to focus on our at bats.”
After a slow start offensively, Kelsey Horton got things going for the Gators.
The senior outfielder sent a two-run home run past the center-field fence as UF evened the score at 2-2. Horton’s homer was the first Missouri right-hander Chelsea Thomas, the SEC Pitcher of the Year, had allowed since April 7 against Alabama.
“I think I was having some pretty good at bats this weekend. I just wasn’t getting hits,” Horton said. “It boosted my confidence, towards the end of the Georgia game, getting some hits. I felt confidence going into tonight against Mizzou and not worrying about who was pitching, just worrying about myself really helped me out tonight.”
Missouri coach Ehren Earleywine substituted Thomas – who pitched a full game against Tennessee on Saturday afternoon – for Lindsey Muller in the third.
With Muller on the mound, the Gators’ offense erupted.
Freshman Kirsti Merritt launched a two-run homer to left center to give Florida a 4-2 lead.
With runners on the corners with two outs in the fourth, freshman Kelsey Stewart tripled over the glove of shortstop Corrin Genovese into left field to score sophomore shortstop Katie Medina, giving Florida a 6-2 lead. Earleywine then switched Muller with Hudson.
Rogers replaced Haeger in the fifth and pitched the final three innings, tallying three strikeouts and allowing a solo homer, two runs and three hits.
After Missouri cut UF’s advantage to 6-3, junior Stephanie Tofft homered to right field to increase Florida’s lead to four runs. In the sixth, Tofft followed her blast with an RBI single to left field as the Gators jumped ahead 8-4. At the next at-bat, Haeger doubled to deep right-center field, scoring two batters.
Florida will learn its NCAA Tournament seeding and regional opponents Sunday night at 10 p.m.
Kelsey Horton (20) celebrates with teammates after scoring a run during Florida’s 4-2 win against Mississippi State on April 6 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Horton homered in Florida's 10-4 victory against Missouri to clinch the SEC Tournament championship.
