Florida Gators

AUBURN, Ala. – The Florida softball team enters the Southeastern Conference Tournament as the No. 2-seed and will face No. 7-seed Georgia in the quarterfinal round Thursday, May 9, at 5 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
 
The Gators (43-12) finished as the SEC regular season runner up with a 17-7 record and finished the regular season conference slate with a series sweep of No. 8 Texas A&M at home and a have won six of their last seven games against Top 25 competition. Overall, the Orange & Blue is 17-8 on the season against Top 25 opponents.
 
However, with the regular season at an end and the arrival of the SEC Tournament the Gators turn the page and set their focus on tournament play. Historically UF holds a 37-29 (.561) record in the SEC Tournament and its 37 wins rank third most among all league schools and sit only behind Alabama (46) and LSU (45).
 
Florida holds the second tournament titles with five overall, which is just one behind Alabama's six, and have played in the tournament championship game a total of nine times with the most recent occurring in 2021.
 
The Gators' offense this season has racked up historic numbers so far this season. The team batting average of .344 (491-for-1,428) is currently the best in program history, while the .601 slugging percentage ranks second and the .451 on base percentage ranks first in program history.
 
In addition, UF has hit 99 doubles as a team and is knocking on the door of setting a new program record as the current mark is 102 doubles that were hit during the 2008 season.
 
Individually at the plate for the Gators, Korbe Otis paces the offense with her .455 batting average that includes 66 hits, 64 runs, 50 RBI and 50 walks. Entering this week Otis was the only player in the nation to hold a stat line of 60-plus hits and runs in addition to 50-plus RBI and walks.
 
Junior Kendra Falby follows with a .407 average at the dish with a team-leading 79 hits, which ranks fourth nationally, and has been a force over her last five games. The Odessa, Fla. native is hitting .478 over that span with 11 hits, 9 runs, two doubles and a home run.
 
With Falby, Otis and Skylar Wallace setting the table all season long. Jocelyn Erickson has made the most of her opportunities as she leads the SEC and ranks fourth nationally with 70 RBI on the season. The Phoenix, Ariz., native currently ranks fourth all-time in UF single-season history in the RBI category and is just two away from taking over second place and is 10 away from tying Meagan Bush's record of 80 from 2011. Erickson has also reached base safely in 50 of the 55 games in the regular season.
 
The Gators will face the Bulldogs in the quarterfinal round Thursday after UGA defeated host No.10-seed Auburn in walk-off fashion 6-5 (14 innings) Wednesday night. The game between the Bulldogs and the Tigers was the longest game in Southeastern Conference Tournament history as it lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes.
 
UF and Georgia met previously this season as the Orange & Blue took the series in Athens, Ga., 2-1 with wins of 9-1 (5 innings) and 10-7, but dropped game two of the series 11-6.
 
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