Highlights | Press Conference

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Behind an Amanda Lorenz two-run home run and a brilliant performance from Delanie Gourley in the circle, the No. 1-seeded University of Florida softball team evened its NCAA Super Regional series with Alabama on Friday with a 2-0 win at KSP Stadium.

UF (54-8) and UA (46-17) will meet on Saturday at 5 p.m. with a trip to the NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City on the line.

Alabama right-hander Sidney Littlejohn set down Florida's first eight hitters that stepped to the plate on Friday.

Senior Justine McLean broke up the no-no as she recorded an infield single with two outs in the third inning. Lorenz followed with the aforementioned home run.

Lorenz is now 4-for-6 with one run scored, two RBIs, one home run and two walks in the Super Regional.

The pair of runs ended a scoreless-inning streak that lasted 30 1/3 innings for Alabama in postseason play.

That was all Gourley would need, as UF's senior lefty threw her 12th complete game shutout of the season. She allowed just four hits while she retired eight Crimson Tide hitters on strikes.

Alabama only had one base runner in scoring position on Friday, but no Crimson Tide hitters were able to reach third.

Saturday's decisive Game 3, where Florida will be the home team, will be broadcast on ESPN. Tickets for Saturday's game are still available for purchase on FloridaGators.com.

Coaches Corner
On having pressure being the No. 1 seed...:
"Again, when you win a game, I think you clearly shake off any of the doubts that you might have coming in and I don't think that we had any doubts coming in anyway. It's Alabama - Florida. I just looked again today and saw that they're the 16-seed, so it doesn't really matter. It's Alabama - Florida. Winner gets a chance to play at the Women's College World Series and it's an awesome opportunity to play a great game here tomorrow night to figure that out." – Head Coach Tim Walton

From the Players
On how she felt about her homerun…
"I was so excited, I actually wasn't really sure if it was going to go over because it didn't actually feel that great but I will never forget the feeling. Once it went over, I was just really excited because we're finally able to get our amazing pitching staff some runs and that really made me happy because they just work so hard for us each and every day. I knew Delanie would keep us in the game and I just wanted to give her more comfort." – Outfielder, Amanda Lorenz

On mindset going into this game…
"We really just wanted to come out hot, we didn't even think about losing this game, myself or the team. So, we came out the way we knew we were going to come out and that felt really good." – Pitcher, Delanie Gourley
 
Tournament Notes

• The Gators improved to 16-6 (.727) after today's win against Alabama.
• Florida has won its second elimination game of this year's NCAA Tournament.
  • Defeated Oklahoma State 5-0 in a must win contest to advance to the Super Regionals.
• Florida has only played an "if necessary" game three two times prior to this season.
  • 2007 at Texas A&M
    • Lost the series 1-2 (L, 2-0; W, 3-2 & L, 2-0)
  • 2014 vs. Washington
    • Won the series, 2-1, and advanced to the WCWS. Eventually went on to win the program's first NCAA National Championship.

Series Notes

• Florida improved its overall series record against Alabama to 32-36.
• The Gators have not lost back-to-back games to Alabama in the same season since 2012.

Program Notes

• Florida improved to 23-6 this season against Top 25 teams.
  • It's also the 17th time this season that the Gators have shut out a Top 25 opponent.
  • Goes down as 38th shutout of the season, which is just one shy of the Florida record set in 2009.
• The Gators improved to 11-5 overall on the season when appearing on broadcast television.

Individual Notes

• Gourley pitched her 12^th shutout of the season, which ties Kelly Barnhill for the team lead.
  • She also struck out the side one time tonight in the fourth inning, which she has now done 16 times this season.
  • Improved her scoreless inning streak to 23.1 innings.
  • Struck out eight batters tonight and now has 681 for her career, which is just two shy of Stephanie Brombacher for third all-time at Florida.
• Lorenz had her 23^nd multi-hit game of the season and extended her hitting streak to four after tonight's 2-for-4 performance.
  • Hit her 11^th home run of the season, which ties her for seventh in the Gators history books amongst all sophomores.
  • Has now reached safely in 60 of the 62 games played this season for the Gators.

 
 
 
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