With a win against the LSU Tigers on Friday, the Florida Gator softball team earned itself a day off on Saturday. The Gators witnessed a wild day that is Elimination Saturday in the Women’s College World Series to figure out who they would play on Sunday. By defeating Tennessee and UCLA, the Auburn Tigers have found themselves in the semifinal against the Gators.
Auburn and Florida have not faced each other in the 2015 season. The Tigers were one of the hottest teams entering the World Series with a series win against LSU at Baton Rouge, an SEC Tournament crown, and a perfect 5-0 record in the NCAA Tournament. Not bad for a team making their debut in Oklahoma City. LSU beat them in their opening game and the pressure was on entering Elimination Saturday.
Close 4-2 and 11-10 wins against Tennessee and UCLA have put them one step away from the Women’s College World Series final.
Emily Carosone is the Auburn offensive leader. She hits .441 on the year with 18 home runs and 80 runs batted in. Tiffany Howard is another player hitting above .400 for the Tigers. Kasey Cooper, Haley Fagan, Branndi Melero, and Jade Rhodes have all hit for at least 10 home runs and 56 runs batted in. The Auburn offense is quite balanced.
As for pitching, all three pitchers have started around the same amount of games. Lexi Davis has the most wins at 25, but her ERA is the highest of the three at 3.96. Rachael Waters has the lowest earned run average on the team at 2.83. Marcy Harper has given up the least amount of hits, but she has pitched the least amount of innings.
First pitch on Sunday is at 1 p.m. Florida just needs to win one game to advance while Auburn needs to win two.