Gators Face Michigan, Seek Second Straight National Title Tuesday
Tuesday, June 2, 2015 | Softball
Florida vs. Michigan Game Notes
Women's College World Series Central
OKLAHOMA CITY – The top-seeded, 2014 national champion and 2015 Southeastern Conference champion Florida Softball team (59-6, 18-5 SEC) will meet Big Ten champion and No. 3 seed Michigan (59-7, 21-2 Big Ten) in Game 2 of the Women's College World Series championship series at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. The Gators are looking to win their second consecutive national championship.
QUICKLY: UF TEAM NOTES
· Florida is 21-11 all-time at the WCWS, and is making its fourth appearance in the championship series.
· The Gators are looking become the third program in NCAA Softball history to win back-to-back national titles (also: Arizona, UCLA), and the first since Arizona accomplished the feat in 2006-07.
GATOR BITES: UF PLAYER NOTES
· SEC Pitcher of the Year Lauren Haeger is the second player ever in NCAA Softball, NCAA Baseball or Major League Baseball to hit 70 career home runs (71) and record 70 career pitching wins (72), the other being Babe Ruth.
· The senior is the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year, becoming the first Gator to receive the prestigious honor.
· The right-hander threw the first WCWS one-hitter in program annals on Thursday against Tennessee.
· The Arizona native won her first 24 decisions, marking the best start to a season in school history.
· Haeger holds the Gator career records for home runs (71 - also the SEC record), walks (173) and RBI (256).
· SEC Player of the Year Kelsey Stewart holds the highest batting average in UF history (.418 - min. 200 AB) and has set the Gator records for career hits (292), triples (27) and stolen bases (96).
· The Wichita, Kan., native leads the nation with a career-best 11 triples, and is two hits away from matching her own single-season school record (102, 2014).
· Stewart has 200 career runs scored, becoming the third Gator ever to reach this mark (Aja Paculba - 253, Michelle Moultrie - 204).
· Bailey Castro leads the Gators with a .544 on-base percentage, which would shatter the school record (Moultrie - .519, 2011).
· All-SEC and NFCA All-Southeast Region First Team selection Kirsti Merritt has set career bests this year in hitting (.329), doubles (12), slugging (.579) and on-base percentage (.502).
· All-Region First Team and SEC All-Freshman Team choice Aleshia Ocasio stands third in the UF freshman record book with 18 wins and third among first-year Gators with 155 strikeouts.
SETTING THE STAGE: WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
· The Gators are 68-32 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
· During Tim Walton's tenure as head coach, UF is 63-20 in NCAA play and 21-11 at the WCWS.
· The Orange and Blue have advanced to the WCWS Championship Series four times (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015), winning the program's first NCAA title and Florida's 33rd overall national championship in 2014.
· UF is 154-122 (.558) all-time against the 2015 WCWS field.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday's game will air on ESPN with Beth Mowins (play-by-play), Jessica Mendoza (analysis), Michele Smith (analysis) and Holly Rowe (reporting) on the call.
Florida Sports Talk will have the radio broadcast, with Adam Schick (play-by-play) and former Gator All-American Megan Bush (analysis) as the announce team.
LIVE STATS
A live stats link for Tuesday will be available on the Gators' schedule page. In addition, video links, box scores and postgame quotes for every Gators game in Oklahoma City can be found on the WCWS Central page.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
In the Polls: NFCA | USA Softball
