SEC Honors Briski, Murphy, Wells, et al as the Softball Tournament Semis Approach

HOW TO WATCH… ALLEGEDLY

ESPN will cover the semis and the final. If there are weather delays, networks could change.

FLORIDA (48-9, 17-7 SEC)

THROW THE BALL

In case you missed it, Auburn battered the Gators top two Gators pitchers in the quarterfinals. UF starter Keagan Rothrock was rocked for four earned runs over the first three innings. She re-entered the game in the 7th and gave up a solo homer that shrunk Florida’s lead to one run. No. 2 pitcher Olivia Miller was not much better, yielding four runs on seven hits over innings 4, 5 and 6, though she did not record an out in the 6th.

It is unclear who Florida will start in the semis versus Alabama. will be interesting to see who the Gators start tomorrow. Rothrock (26-6, 2.55 ERA) has made 39 appearances and pitched 181.1 innings — the most of any SEC pitcher this season. In her previous two starts, the junior allowed three runs in a 5-3 win over Georgia and then gave up nine runs to the Bulldogs in a 9-1 defeat two days later.

Miller (8-1) has been solid this season as she takes on more responsibility. Her ERA is at 1.84 but she has half the innings that Rothrock has tossed at 61.0.

HIT THE BALL

The other Jocelyn, Jocelyn Erickson, has a .402 batting average with 20 dingers and 71 RBIs. But those numbers come down to .299, 8, and 27 in SEC play.

Florida leadoff hitter Taylor Shumaker is hitting .447 overall with 16 homers and 52 RBI. She has three four-baggers and 11 knocks against SEC pitchers.

Former Alabama player Kenleigh Cahalan is at .372 with 15 round-trippers and 60 knocked in. However, the Trussville native is two for her last 10 with no RBIs going back to the UGA series. Cahalan is hitting .278 with 5 four-baggers and 15 RBI in conference play.

Overall, the Gators are hitting .303 with 35 home runs in SEC competition. That second stat is second to only Oklahoma.

CATCH THE BALL

Florida is tops in the SEC in fielding with a .989 percentage. Although, they did have two errors yesterday versus Auburn and five total in the last two regular season games (both losses) against Georgia.

HOT HEADS

The hot head of hot heads: Tim Walton is in his 21st season in Gainesville.

TEN CENT ANALYSIS

If you have been around college softball enough, you know that anything can happen on any given day. If you want to base today’s performance on recent history, it doesn’t look good for the Gators. Yesterday’s explosion by the Crimson Tide breeds confidence for Alabama.

These two teams did not play this season but the Tide dropped 2 of 3 in Gainesville last season. Assume that Vic Moten will start.

#RollTide #Team30