May 19, 2007
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s Stacey Nelson tossed a complete-game one-hit shutout, striking out three, and Francesca Enea hit a two-out grand slam in the third inning, driving in five runs, to lead the 19th-ranked Gators (48-20) past No. 15 Georgia Tech (54-15), 8-0 in five innings, in the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Saturday at the Florida Softball Stadium.
“(Stacey) Nelson pitched a phenomenal game, holding us to one hit,” said Tech Coach Sharon Perkins. “And the bats were hot.”
The Yellow Jackets drop down into the loser’s bracket and will face the winner of No. 3 seed Texas (38-19) and No. 4 seed Stetson (44-21) later today at 6 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the Regional Championship Game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Junior Stephanie Butler had the only hit for the Jackets, an infield single to first base. Junior Whitney Humphreys (23-6) tasted defeat for the first time in 10 decisions, working 2.2 innings, allowing three hits, three earned runs and walked three.
Sophomore Tiffany Johnson worked 2.0 innings of relief, giving up two hits, five runs, one earned run and struck out one. Sophomore Lacey Richardson recorded the final out for Tech in the circle.
“I was a little tired, but when I warmed up I felt good,” said Johnson on the difference between yesterday and today. “Florida was hitting really well, I’ll give them that.”
The Gators’ Enea hit a grand slam with two outs in the top of the third inning to give Florida a 4-0 lead over the Jackets.
UF’s Lacy Howard smacked a three run home run and Enea drove in another run for the Gators with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth inning to increase their lead to eight runs, 8-0.
Tech had no runs, on one hit and had two errors, while the Gators scored eight runs, on six hits and had no errors.
The game tonight can be followed via live stats on www.ramblinwreck.com. The Regional Title Game will be broadcast on live video on GatorVision on www.GatorZone.com.
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