One series separates Florida from punching one of eight tickets to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
No. 16-seeded Georgia will try to knock off the No. 1-seeded Gators in a three-game series starting tonight at 7 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Georgia is one of six Southeastern Conference teams that made it to college softball’s Super Regionals.
“We’ve watched them a bunch,” coach Tim Walton said. “We’ve scouted them. But (we) haven’t played them a whole lot in the last couple years, so it’ll be definitely different.”
The Bulldogs have proven themselves so far. Despite finishing eighth in the SEC, they’re still competing for a national title.
But No. 1 seed Florida (56-5, 20-4 SEC) is coming in confident in its ability to muzzle No. 16 seed Georgia (43-18/12-12 SEC). The Gators are 14-1 in Super Regional home games.
But Florida isn’t as familiar with this Georgia team as it's been in years past.
Georgia was one of four SEC schools UF didn’t play in the regular season. The last time the two met, Florida won both legs of an Athens doubleheader on April 18, 2015.
“I really like the fact that we haven’t played them yet,” senior Kirsti Merritt said. “It’s almost like we’re playing a whole new team, even though we’ve played them in the past.”
The most important matchup in the series will be between Florida’s pitching staff and Georgia’s hitters.
The two pitchers with the nation’s best ERAs, UF’s Aleshia Ocasio (0.65) and Delanie Gourley (0.70), have been practically unhittable this season, but the Bulldogs’ offense may be UF's toughest test.
As a team, Georgia has a .352 batting average — the fourth highest in college softball and better than any opponent Florida has faced.
For a personification of the Bulldog bats, look no further than power-hitter Tina Iosefa. A senior, Iosefa leads the NCAA with 86 RBIs. No one else has 80.
When it comes to the long ball, she’s tied for first with 23 home runs.
Limiting Iosefa and the rest of the Georgia offense will be critical for the Gators, who have heavily depended on shutouts. Florida is just 5-3 when their opponent scores more than two runs.
Coach Walton has noticed the trend as well.
“This year, there's been a lot of low-scoring games. In most of those cases, we've needed every bit of those shut-out innings."
Florida will waltz into the WCWS if it can score a handful of runs against Georgia. The Gators are 33-0 when they score at least six runs.
First pitch is at 7 tonight.
Game 2 will be at 5 p.m. Friday, and if necessary, Game 3 at 8 p.m. Friday.
Games 1 and 2 will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Contact Matt Brannon at mbrannon@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @MattB_727.
UF's Kirsti Merritt crosses home plate to score the lone run of the game in the eighth inning of Florida softball's 1-0 win against Florida Atlantic during the NCAA Regional finals on May 17, 2015, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
