May 10, 2008

Final Stats

BATON ROUGE, La. -

Box Score

Florida senior Mary Ratliff did it to Alabama again.

Ratliff beat the Crimson Tide in the second game of a doubleheader on March 12 with a two-out, two-strike seventh-inning grand slam. Saturday it was a two-out, two-strike sixth-inning slam that propelled the Gators to the SEC Tournament Championship with a 4-1 win at Tiger Park.

Both home runs came off Alabama freshman hurler Kelsi Dunne (22-4). The Port Orange, Fla., native had pitched a fantastic game until that point. She allowed five total hits and struck out six.

Gator's starting pitcher Stacey Nelson earned the win in the circle to improve to 40-2 on the season. Florida is now 62-2 and has won 35 games in a row. The Crimson Tide falls to 51-6 and await word on their NCAA Tournament plans on the selection show at 9 p.m. Sunday night on ESPNU.

A leadoff single in the sixth inning by Brittany Rogers through the left side of the infield put the pressure on the Florida defense that would lead to Alabama's only run of the game.

Jordan Praytor sacrificed her over to second base with a perfect bunt and Rogers then moved up to third on a wild pitch from Nelson. Charlotte Morgan show why she leads the SEC in RBI by putting the next pitch in play with a ground ball to second base that scored Rogers.

The RBI was Morgan's 69th of the season, which ties the Alabama single-season record set by Ginger Jones in 2000.

Morgan, Dunne and Whitney Larsen were named to the SEC All-Tournament team for the Crimson Tide.

-UA-