Alabama Softball Falls to Florida, 2-0, to Even Super Regional Series

Alabama softball fell to Florida Friday night, 2-0, as the Gators evened the Super Regional series to force a winner-take-all game on Saturday.

Alabama (46-17) struggled offensively against Florida (54-8) and senior starter Delanie Gourley (21-4). The Crimson Tide tallied four hits and drew two walks, but was 0-11 with runners on base. Sydney Littlejohn (17-9) held the Gators to just five hits, but one of the five was a two-run home run by Amanda Lorenz, which proved the difference in the two-run game. The home run broke the Tide’s scoreless innings streak at 31.1 innings, stretching back to game one of the NCAA Regional.

Alabama got a runner on base in each of the first two innings but could not score as it remained 0-0 heading to the top of the third. A slow-roller down the third-base line with two out in the top of the third was Florida’s first hit of the game and Amanda Lorenz put the Gators in the run column in the next at-bat with a two-run home run to take a 2-0 lead.

Florida threatened again in the top of the fourth, putting a runner in scoring position with a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt. With two outs in the half-inning, Janell Wheaton singled to shallow center and the runner tried to score from second but a great throw from Elissa Brown allowed Reagan Dykes to tag her at home to end the top of the fourth as the score remained 2-0.

With two out in the top of the fifth, Justine McLean drew a two-out walk to turn it back to the top of the order and Lorenz followed with a single to right field to put runners at the corners. A fly ball to right would get Alabama out of the jam and Florida was unable to add to its 2-0 lead in the sixth or seventh innings with the Tide looking to overcome a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh. A groundout and strikeout quickly put two outs on the board but Rachel Bobo reached on a fielding error to turn it back to the top of the order. A groundout back to the pitcher ended the game as Alabama fell, 2-0, to even the weekend series.

The winner-take-all game three is set for a 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT start on Saturday, May 27 live on ESPN.