The Alabama Crimson Tide's remarkable postseason journey concluded Sunday evening with a 6-4 loss to the Florida Gators in the Women's College World Series softball tournament. An Alabama offense that struggled throughout the season was able to battle back and forth with the Florida offense for five innings before a three-run home run from Jocelyn Erikson in the sixth inning put the game out of reach.
Alabama got on the scoreboard first thanks to a fielding error by the Gators. Bailey Dowling reached second base off a dropped fly ball to center field. Jenna Johnson followed up with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners. Alabama’s clutch hitter Marlie Valentine came through again for the Crimson Tide, grounding out to shortstop and driving in Johnson from third to give Alabama a 1-0 advantage.
The one-run lead by the Crimson Tide didn’t last long. In the third inning, Florida strung together a couple of singles with a walk in between to score two runs and take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the third, Alabama took advantage of a leadoff walk from Lauren Johnson and tied the game at two apiece on an RBI single from Giles.
Florida regained the lead in the fifth inning using the same recipe as the third. A leadoff single, followed by a walk and an RBI single, gave the Gators the 3-2 advantage.
A three-run home run by Florida’s Erickson off of relief pitcher Alea Johnson in the sixth inning gave Florida an insurmountable 6-2 lead.
Alabama loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning and cut the Florida lead in half, getting two of the runs back. The Crimson Tide would go down in order in the bottom of the seventh inning and be eliminated by the Gators by a final score of 6-4.
Kayla Beaver got the start for Alabama and kept the Crimson Tide in the game despite not having her best stuff. Beaver gave up two runs on six hits in four innings pitched. Jocelyn Briski came in relief in the fifth inning and gave up the tying run and was unable to finish the sixth inning after giving up two more runs to record the loss.
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