Gators 'slams' door shut on softball team in SEC Tournament title game

BATON ROUGE, La. | Deja vu wasn’t a pleasant feeling for Kesli Dunne or the University of Alabama softball team.

For the second time this season, Florida’s Mary Ratliff hit a grand slam off Dunne, the freshman ace pitcher for the third-ranked Crimson Tide. This time, the sixth-inning shot with two outs and two strikes lifted the top-ranked Gators to a 4-1 victory over Alabama in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Tiger Stadium.

Ratliff’s two-out, two-strike grand slam on March 12 gave Florida a victory over Alabama in the second game of a regular-season doubleheader after Alabama had won the first game. This time, the only senior starter for the Gators settled the series by giving Florida the edge in the rubber match.

Dunne (22-4), a native of Port Orange, Fla., who was named SEC Freshman of the Year earlier this week, had kept the Gators completely in check until the fateful sixth inning. She allowed five hits and struck out six batters before Ratliff’s shot to right field, and was one strike away from holding on to a one-run lead.

“It was one pitch and they capitalized on it,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. “[Florida] just got the hit when they needed to, and I thought our one run was going to stand up because we were throwing a good game and playing good defense.”

Said Ratliff, “I made an adjustment. I got on the plate a little bit because most of the pitches I had been seeing all day had been on the outer half of the plate. I decided that I was going to crowd the plate a little bit. I did and got a pitch that was inside.”

Alabama took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning after Brittany Rogers hit a leadoff single between shortstop and third base, moved to second on Jordan Praytor’s sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch. Rogers scored the go-ahead run when Charlotte Morgan grounded out to second base for an RBI.

Morgan’s RBI was her 69th this season, tying Ginger Jones’ school record set in 2000.

That was the only run Alabama could score off tournament MVP Stacy Nelson, who held the Tide to three hits with four strikeouts and no walks to improve to 40-2. Florida’s ace kept Alabama’s explosive bats off balance until Ratliff came up with the game-winning homer.

“Nelson is a great pitcher and we were just hoping for some more hits, more opportunities,” Murphy said. “I thought that when we got a runner at third with one out and Charlotte drove in the run in the top of the sixth, that run would stand up.”

Morgan, Dunne and Whitney Larsen, who hit a double in the game, were named to the All-Tournament team.

Alabama fell to 51-6 and will find out today when and where it will play in the NCAA Tournament.