No. 1 Florida is used to coming from behind this season.
When it played against then-No. 5 Michigan on Feb. 8, UF rallied from a 4-0 deficit through six innings to win 9-4 in extra innings.
Against LSU on March 14, UF trailed 6-2 in the seventh inning until Taylore Fuller hit a grand slam to tie the game. The Gators won that contest 7-6 in eight frames.
But against No. 9 Alabama on Friday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, Florida failed to rebound late.
After giving up three runs before the first inning was over, the Gators surged late at the plate but fell to the Crimson Tide 4-2 in the opening game of the weekend series.
“We like to wait until the seventh inning to get everyone’s blood pressure up,” junior Lauren Haeger said. “Yeah, we like to fight at the end. We had a good fight at the end, but we have to make our adjustments earlier. We have to have better at-bats earlier for it to come up from four runs.”
Florida (29-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) fell behind quickly after freshman Delanie Gourley gave up two first-inning home runs to give Alabama (26-4, 7-0 SEC) a 3-0 lead. Although UF put itself in a bind early, Haeger, who went 0 for 2 at the plate, said the team took UA’s success with a grain of salt.
“We haven’t had any at-bats yet,” Haeger said. “We haven’t had a chance to score, so we don’t really know how the game is going to go.”
Gourley (11-1) bounced back in her remaining four innings on the mound, giving up just four more hits and one additional run while striking out six of the 20 batters she faced.
“I was glad that I was able to bounce back,” Gourley said. “You can’t change anything once it’s happened. You just have to keep playing the game.”
Despite her improvement as the game progressed, Gourley had little help from the offense. Through the first six innings, the Gators drew five walks and had runners in scoring position on a couple occasions, but they failed to execute.
“We just weren’t swinging at strikes,” Haeger said. “We weren’t swinging at good pitches. I wasn’t swinging at good pitches. … We were kind of just all over the place, guessing a little bit. We looked a little awkward.”
Down 4-0 with three outs to make a comeback, Florida made it to base when leadoff batter Justine McLean was walked on five pitches and first baseman Taylor Schwarz hit a single to left field.
Catcher Taylore Fuller followed with a groundout that moved both runners into scoring position, and shortstop Kelsey Stewart loaded the bases when she drew a five-pitch walk.
Chelsea Herndon, who had the only UF hit heading into the seventh frame, finally got the Gators on the scoreboard with a groundout to shortstop that scored McLean and Schwarz while moving Stewart to third.
The come-from-behind rally almost came to fruition when Stephanie Tofft stepped up to back.
Facing a 1-0 count, the Lincoln, Calif., native slammed a ball to deep center field that was just shy of leaving the park but ended up in the glove of Alabama center fielder Haylie McCleney.
Coach Tim Walton though Tofft hit the game winner.
“She hit it good,” he said. “She hit it hard, so yeah, I did.”
Despite seeing his team only plate two hits on the night, Walton was content with how Florida fared at the plate.
“Stats are overrated,” he said. “We got two hits and still had a chance to tie a ballgame in the seventh. I don’t look at the number of hits. I think the at-bats were pretty quality. It’s very difficult to swing the bat when you’re down four runs.”
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
