GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Down year. Down year. Down year.
That was the narrative attached to Florida's 2019 softball season barely two weeks ago, as the Gators made their way to the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Tim Walton heard it. His staff heard it. His players heard it. You know why?
"That's what we've been calling it," Walton said. "We finished sixth in the league. We were 12-12 in the SEC. That's the most losses since our first year. For us, yes, a down year."
Accurate, all of it. Yet as so-called "down years" go, it's evolved in a very short (and recent) time to resemble some of the Gators's biggest years. Or most years, actually. First, UF steamrolled to four wins to capture the SEC Tournament, was awarded a top-eight NCAA Tournament seed for a 12th straight year, then dominated its NCAA regional with three shutout wins last weekend. On Friday, the No. 5-seed Gators (47-15) open a best-of-three Super Regional against league rival and 12th-seeded Tennessee (42-15) at Pressly Stadium, with the winner advancing to the Women's College World Series next week in Oklahoma City.
The down year is looking up.
Florida's postseason success figures to rise or fall with senior ace Kelly Barnhill, who has been spectacular in her last six outings.
Now come the Lady Vols, who finished in a three-way tie for second in the SEC at 14-10, a mark that included a series win in Gainesville back on March 8-10. In that one, then-No. 7 UT rocked ace
Kelly Barnhill in the first game on the way to a 9-1 mercy-rule win. The Lady Vols came back the next day and shut out the fourth-ranked Gators, 3-0, as Florida managed just three hits. UF and Barnhill salvaged the third game with an 8-0 win.
That series spun the Gators off into what became their .500 conference campaign. No matter. They're playing the best softball of the season right now, with an eight-game winning streak that dates to the regular-season finale against Mississippi State. The Lady Vols, meanwhile, split their last 12 SEC games, then had to survive an elimination game Sunday in their home regional against North Carolina. Tennessee, though, will come to town confident, with the second-best statistical offensive and defensive units, plus a solid pitching staff that got some heavenly social media run in the team's clincher (appropriately enough) on Sunday.
With the Super round back in town for a seventh straight year — and 11th time in the last 12 seasons, but the first to be staged the $15 million upgraded KSP — here's a "Tale of the Tape" look at how the two team's match up.
GATORS vs VOLUNTEERS
TALE OF THE SUPER REGION TAPE
How UF and Tennessee stack up for this weekend's showdown series for the right to go to OKC.
(SEC rankings in parenthesis, out of 13)
| FLORIDA |
CATEGORY |
TENNESSEE |
| .266 (13th) |
Average |
.307 (2nd) |
| 291 (11th) |
Runs |
341 (5th) |
| 58 (11th) |
Doubles |
69 (8th) |
| 13 (3rd) |
Triples |
10 (7th) |
| 52 (9th) |
Home Runs |
48 (11th) |
| 271 (11th) |
RBI |
305 (6th) |
| 251 (2nd) |
Walks |
184 (8th) |
| 298 (1st) |
Strikeouts |
263 (4th) |
| 28 (12th) |
Stolen Bases |
63 (7th) |
| 656 (10th) |
Total Bases |
683 (9th) |
| 1.78 (1st) |
ERA |
2.23 (5th) |
| .176 (1st) |
Opponents' Average |
.198 (2nd) |
| .987 (1st) |
Fielding Percentage |
.977 (2nd) |
OF/1B Amanda Lorenz .424, 11 HR, 41 RBI.
DP Kendyl Lindaman .337, 14 HR, 52 RBI.
2B Hannah Adams .285, 11 doubles, 27 RBI.
C Jordan Roberts .260, 8 HR, 35 RBI. |
Hitters to Watch |
SS Aubrey Leach .409, 63 runs, 23 RBI.
3B Chelsea Seggem .368, 16 doubles, 6 HR, 45 RBI.
RF Haley Bearden .318, 14 HR, 45 RBI.
C Kaili Phillips .264, 10 HR, 36 RBI
|
Kelly Barnhill (32-11) 1.48 ERA, 256.0 IP, 327 K, 70 BB .147 opponents' average, 17 HR.
Elizabeth Hightower (4-1) 1.88 ERA, 59.2 IP, 54 K, 17 BB, .218 opponents' average. |
Pitchers to Watch |
Ashley Rogers (21-5) 1.87 ERA, 164.2 IP, 198 K, 39 BB, .183 opponents' average
Matty Moss (11-2) 2.52 ERA, 105.5 IP, 114 K, 23 BB, .201 opponents' average |
