Florida falls in first game of Women's College World Series championship

The decision to award Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie Player of the Year honors may not have been so controversial afterall.

Lawrie (41-8) threw a two-hitter against top-seeded Florida to lead the Huskies to an 8-0 win in the first game of the best-of-three championship series of the Women's College World Series.

Lawrie, who beat out Florida's Stacey Nelson for Player of the Year, set a Washington record with her 41st career shutout.

The Gators suffered their first loss in 29 games, breaking the NCAA’s longest win streak of the season. The eight-run loss was the worst for Florida since a 10-2 loss to UCLA on March 3, 2007.

For Nelson, it was only her fourth loss of the season. She allowed five hits and six runs, four earned.

Florida (63-4) will play Washington (50-12) tonight at 8 on ESPN2. A loss will end the Gators' season; a win sends them into the final game Tuesday night.

Florida softball advances in Women's College World Series with dramatic 6-5 win over Alabama

Ali Gardiner's grand-slam in the bottom of the seventh earned the Florida softball team a 6-5 victory over SEC-foe Alabama in Sunday's Women's College World Series.

The victory sends the Gators to the best-of-three championship series for the first time in school history.

Stacey Nelson throws one-hitter to lead No. 1 Gators to victory over No. 6 Michigan in the Women's College World Series

Stacey Nelson allowed just one hit and sophomore Megan Bush hit her second home run in two nights to lead top-ranked Florida to a 1-0 win over No. 6 Michigan in front of a record crowd of 8,223 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in the Womens College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The Gators are now 2-0 and remain in the winners' bracket, so they will get today off. Florida (62-3) will play Sunday at 2 p.m, and the game will be televised live on ESPN. The Gators are one win away from advancing to the championship round, which begins Monday.

Nelson had 57 strikes on 71 pitches. Through the first five innings, she threw just five balls, and struck out nine in the game. With her 136th career win, she is now tied for sixth-all time in NCAA history with former Texas pitcher Cat Osterman  Her 22 shutouts this season
tied for the best in the country with Massachusetts’s Brandice
Balschmiter.

Florida softball wins first game of Women's College World Series

Junior Francesca Enea hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Megan Bush added another in the second inning to lead the Gators to a 3-0 win over Arizona in the Gators' first game in the College World Series Thursday night.

Senior pitcher Stacey Nelson pitched seven innings, giving up two hits and three walks. She also had 12 strikeouts.

Florida (61-3) will play Michigan in the winner's bracket Friday at 9 p.m.

Florida senior softball pitcher Stacey Nelson up for Honda Sports Award

Florida senior Stacey Nelson on Thursday was named one of four nominees for the 2008-09 Softball Honda Sports Award.

Nelson, the three-time All-American pitcher, was the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner and the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year. She also earned the SEC Pitcher of the Year honor two years in a row and she was named to the All-SEC first team and SEC All-Defensive team in 2008 and 2009. The righty (39-3) holds the lowest ERA (0.41) in the country and broke UF’s single-season shutout record this season (20).

Nelson will be the starting pitcher tonight when the Gators open play in the Women's College World Series tonight at 9 against Arizona.

The game can be seen live on ESPN.

Florida softball wins doubleheader over California, headed to second consecutive Women's College World Series

This time, there was definitely going to be a special celebration that left no doubt about their true feelings.

When the Florida women's softball team won its NCAA Super Regional last season to advance to the Women's College World Series, the Gator celebration was so subdued even head coach Tim Walton questioned if his team had fully comprehended the magnitude of what it had accomplished.

So Sunday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, the Gators had it all planned out. If they won the NCAA Gainesville Super Regiona., there would be a real celebration.

And when senior pitcher Stacey Nelson struck out Cal's Sati Houston in the bottom of the seventh to give Florida a 2-1 win over Cal in the second game of a doubleheader, the Gators (60-3) rushed to the mound for a joyful celebrationm dogpile-style, befitting a team headed to its second consecutive Women's College World Series.

"We've been planning what we were going to do,'' second baseman Aja Paculba said of the postgame celebration. "Last year we kind of just jumped up and down and didn't really do anything. This year we said we're going all out. And I think it was really fun this way.''

Florida won the first game Sunday morning, 2-0, aided by Paculba, who had a leadoff home run in the game. 

Nelson, one of three candidates for National Player of the Year, earned the win in both games. She came into the second game in the third inning in relief of sophomore Stephanie Brombacher.

Walton said the decision to bring in his ace wasn't difficult. His mindset at the time?

"We had a lead, we weren't swinging the bat as well as we need to, this is going to be all we're going to score, maybe, we can't give up any more runs,'' Walton said.

Nelson came in in relief with the leadoff runner on second and no outs in the third. She retired the side with two strikeouts and a groundout.

"I knew we had a job to do,'' Nelson said. "We had a lead and we needed to hold it. I just tried to calm myself down, because I was fired up, and I just hit my spots.''

Nelson (39-3), gave up two hits and had six strikeouts in five innings in the second game; in the first game, she gave up four hits, but had 13 strikeouts and a 0.41 ERA.

The return to the WCWS is what most expected from opening day for the Gators, who lost just one starter off last season's team that fell one game short of the national championship game. But it hasn't been an easy road, the players said.

"We knew every team we played was going to be gunning for us because we were ranked No. 1 for a lot of the season,'' said senior catcher Kristina Hilberth, of Dunnedin. "So it's really great to go back to the World Series after every team was gunning for us from day one,''  

No. 1 Florida will play No. 9 Arizona Thursday, at 9 p.m., in the first round of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

"I think it's better this year than it was last year, for sure,'' Paculba said. "We know what the whole deal is about now. We know what we need to do to be successful.''

Gator softball can be seen on ESPNU today

With its scheduled first game of the NCAA Super Regional postponed due to continuous heavy rain Saturday night, the Florida softball team will attempt to play two games today in Gainesville.

The No. 1 Gators will play No. 14 California today at 10 a.m., and the second game will be played 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Both games can be seen on ESPNU and espn360.com.

If a game three is necessary, it will be played at a time to be determined on Monday.

Gator pitcher Stacey Nelson one of three finalists for national award

Senior pitcher Stacey Nelson was named one of three finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award presented by the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA). 

Arizona State senior Kaitlin Cochran and Washington junior Danielle Lawrie are the other finalists. The winner will be announced on May 26 at the Women's College World Series.

Nelson, a two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year, has 131 career seventh-best all time.  She is second in SEC history, only behind Tennessee's Monica Abbott (189). This season, her 37-3 (.925) record is one of the best in the nation and her ERA (0.43) leads the country.  She is second in the country with 19 shutouts.  The right-hander leads the SEC in ERA, opposing batting average (.158), strikeouts (302), wins, fewest earned runs allowed (15),fewest home runs allowed (1).

The award recognizes outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. Past winners include UCLA's Stacey Nuveman, Florida State's Jessica Van der Linden, three-time winner Texas pitcher Cat Osterman, Tennessee's Monica Abbott and Virginia Tech's Angela Tincher.

Nelson and the No. 1 seeded-Gators will face No. 14/16 California on May 23 and 24 in the NCAA Super Regionals in Gainesville.  The 8 p.m. game on Saturday will air on ESPN and the 6 p.m. game on Sunday (with a possible 8 p.m.game) will air on ESPN 2.

Gator softball wins, advances to NCAA Super Regional

The Florida softball team took its first step toward returning to the Women's College World Series for the second consecutive season with a 9-0 victory over Lehigh in the NCAA Gainesville Regional. Florida was  3-0 through the weekend in regional play.

Florida will play California in the Super Regionals for the second consecutive year. California defeated Oklahoma State, 2-1, in the Tallahassee Regional to advance.

Gator senior catcher and Dunedin native, Kristina Hilberth, helped get things started for Florida, when the Gators broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with two runs. Hilberth started things off with a double to left center. Ali Gardiner grounded to second to move Hilberth to third. Junior Francesca Enea doubled to center to bring Hilberth in and score UF’s first run. Sophomore Kelsey Bruder followed with a single to right to score Enea from second.

Florida (58-3) broke the SEC single-season home run record when junior Corrie Brooks hit UF’s 80th of the season.

Senior pitcher Stacey Nelson earned her 19th shutout of the season, while only allowing three hits. Nelson (37-3) did not allow a walk for the 12th games this season, second in a row.

Six Gator softball players named to all-region team

Six Gator players were named to the All-Southeast Region team by the National Fastball Coaches Association.

Senior pitcher Stacey Nelson, Francesca Enea, Stephanie Brombacher, Kelsey Bruder, Megan Bush and Aja Paculba were honored. It was the most honored from a single school, and the single-most in school history. North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia Tech each had three players named to the roster.