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Gators Softball Makes Region Final

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A Tribune wire report

Published: May 18, 2008

GAINESVILLE - National player of the year nominee Stacey Nelson pitched a four-hit shutout to lead the top-ranked Florida softball team to a 3-0 victory against Central Florida on Saturday and into the NCAA Gainesville Regional final today.

Florida (64-2) stretched its winning streak to 37 and only has to win once today against UCF to advance to a super regional next weekend.

Corrie Brooks had a solo homer in the third, while Francesca Enea added a two-run single in the sixth.

In 41 career innings in NCAA regional play, Nelson (42-2) has only allowed one earned run. Her win Saturday was her 15th shutout.

UCF (48-19) got a combined five-hitter from Allison Kime (32-11, Bloomingdale) and Ashleigh Cole to beat Georgia Tech (32-31) 7-0 in the losers' bracket final.

Earlier Saturday, Georgia Tech eliminated South Florida (44-20) 9-2. Left fielder Kelly McCarver and center fielder Aya Nakajima each had two hits for USF, but the Bulls were hurt by six errors.

NATIONAL JUCO TOURNEY: Wallace State Community College-Hanceville (Ala.) won its final 41 games of the season to win the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I national championship, beating top-ranked Santa Fe Community College of Gainesville 5-2 Saturday at Plant City Stadium.

No. 4 Wallace State (68-8) got a two-run triple by Jena Franks in the third inning and a game-winning RBI single by Rachel Baucom in the fifth. Winning Wallace State pitcher Jennifer Sexton was named tourney MVP. Santa Fe (62-5-1) lost its first game of the tourney, but battled back to win six straight to make the final. Santa Fe third baseman Kristina Cruz (Holy Names) had a run-scoring single.

USF Baseball Team Rallies From 8-0 Deficit

TAMPA - Notre Dame took an 8-0 lead through 41/2 innings, but South Florida rallied with six runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the eighth to beat the Irish 9-8 and earn the school's first Big East baseball sweep.

USF (29-25, 14-13 Big East) got an RBI single by freshman Junior Carlin to make a winner of Matt Stull (4-2).

The Bulls finished sixth in the Big East standings, and are scheduled to face No. 3 Notre Dame (33-19-1, 16-10) in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Tuesday night at 8 at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater.

FLORIDA 13, VANDERBILT 12: Jon Townsend singled to left in the 11th inning to drive in the winning run and lift host Florida (34-20, 17-13 SEC) past Vanderbilt (37-18, 15-14) to a three-game sweep.

Townsend's single scored Cole Figueroa, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Third-seeded UF faces sixth-seeded Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday at Hoover, Ala.

FLORIDA STATE 8, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 1: Ryan Strauss (8-0, Bloomingdale) allowed four hits and one earned run in six innings as No. 3 FSU (46-9, 24-6) ended the regular season as the ACC Atlantic Division champ after beating No. 22 N.C. State (37-18, 19-10).

For FSU, Tony Delmonico missed the cycle by a homer and had four RBIs, and Buster Posey and Stephen Cardullo had solo homers.

NORTH CAROLINA 12, MIAMI 11: Tim Fedroff hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning as No. 2 North Carolina (45-10, 22-7 ACC) took two of three vs. No. 1 Miami (43-8, 23-5), handing UM its only ACC series loss of the season.

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