Florida Gators

NCAA SUPER REGIONAL GAME 3 
FLORIDA 2, ALABAMA 1

WHAT HAPPENED: The top-seeded Gators struck for two runs in the first inning then turned matters over to sophomore ace Kelly Barnhill, who buzz-sawed the Crimson Tide lineup over the final six innings to lead her team to victory in the decisive NCAA Super Regional Game 3, sending UF back to Women's College World Series. Sophomore Amanda Lorenz, the Game 2 hero with a two-run homer in a 2-0 stay-alive victory Friday night, opened the UF first with a single off Bama superstar Alexis Osorio, who shut the Gators out in Thursday night's series opener. After Kayli Kvistad walked, clean-up hitter Aleshia Ocasio rapped a one-out single to right to score Lorenz. After another Osorio walk loaded the bases, Jordan Roberts was hit by a pitch, sending Kvistad home from third with UF's second run. The Tide halved the lead in the second inning, but Barnhill went lights-out from there to put Coach Tim Walton and the Gators back in Oklahoma City for the first time since 2015. 

PLAY OF THE GAME: Let's go with the last one -- a Barnhill strikeout, appropriately enough -- and the ensuing dog pile. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Barnhill bounced back from Thursday night's outing when she undermined what was looking like a terrific outing with back-to-back throwing errors in the fourth inning that accounted for three unearned runs in a 3-0 loss. The nation's leader in ERA (0.34 coming in), Barnhill surrendered just two hits and struck out 12, at times touching 72 miles per hour on the gun, the equivalent of 100 mph in baseball. After Bama scored its lone run in the second, Barnhill allowed just one baserunner the rest of the game to run her 2017 record to 24-3. 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: Alabama's 1 through 7 hitters were a combined 0-for-19. 

UP NEXT: The Gators (55-8), in the WCWS for the eighth time in the last nine seasons, will leave for OKC on Monday, with their first game set for Thursday against the survivor of the Knoxville Super Regional, Tennessee (48-10) or Texas A&M (45-11), with their series tied at one game a piece following the Aggies' win in Saturday's Game 2. The Tide (46-18) was denied a fourth straight WCWS berth and 12th all-time date in softball's showcase event.