Francesca Enea found out the Gators won their second straight regular-season Southeastern Conference title from an unusual source: the team's bus driver, Tony.
Enea heard him chanting "SEC champs" in the stands alongside the 1,679 fans who showed up at Tiger Park on Saturday for No. 1 UF's doubleheader sweep of No.18 LSU.
"We were like, 'Why's he chanting that?' Everyone was like, 'Because we just clinched the SEC,'" Enea said.
The Gators (46-3, 23-1 SEC) shut out out the Tigers (27-13-1, 10-9-1 SEC) in the three-game set this weekend in Baton Rouge, La. UF put up just 4 runs in Saturday's doubleheader, and first baseman Ali Gardiner's two home runs sparked the Gators at the plate Sunday, pushing them to a 12-0 mercy-rule victory in Game 3.
UF's 1-0 win in Game 2 clinched the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament after the Gators took down the Tigers 3-0 in Game 1, coach Tim Walton's first win at LSU.
"I don't think we really needed any more motivation to compete with LSU at their field because we've had a long history of not being able to do so," Gardiner said. "For us to be able to come and not just pull out one game but to win all three, it means a lot to us."
For a team that set its sights on a national championship in the preseason, winning the regular-season conference title is only one step on the road to Oklahoma City.
"We're just working goal by goal, and we accomplished our first one today," Gardiner said.
The Gators started out hot at the plate Saturday, as Enea's 2-run shot to left field on the first pitch she saw gave the team an early lead.
UF had just two hits in the rest of Game 1, but Stacey Nelson (27-3, 0.41 ERA) got the win, pitching a complete-game shutout while only allowing five hits and walking one batter. Center fielder Michelle Moultrie drove in Corrie Brooks with a sacrifice fly in the fourth for the only other run of the game.
Tigers pitcher Brittany Mack held the Gators to just five hits in Game 2, but Stephanie Brombacher (19-0, 0.87 ERA) only gave up two in her six innings of work. Nelson finished the game out, striking out two and earning her third save of the season.
"They were really tough to hit," UF coach Tim Walton said. "Both pitchers did a great job staying ahead the whole time, and we played great defense behind them."
Nelson returned to the circle Sunday, striking out seven and giving up five hits in five innings. Unlike in the previous two games, though, her offense lit up the scoreboard, putting up 6 runs in the first two innings thanks to Gardiner's two longballs and an error by Tigers shortstop Juliana Santos on an infield hit by Kristina Hilberth.
"We talk about if we can get to 5 runs, that's the magic number," Walton said. "Once you get to 5, things change. You don't have to fight as much, you start to swing a little bit easier, and I think that's what happened today."
