The Arizona Softball team fell to the Florida Gators 3-0 on Thursday night in Oklahoma City in front of 6,483 fans. The Cats gambled by going with starter Lindsey Sisk instead of ace Sarah Akamine. Sisk only lasted 1 inning, giving up 3 runs, all earned, walking 2 and only striking out 1. Akamine came in after that and stifled the Gators by throwing the remaining 5 innings, blanking 7, and walking 0.
(Sisk was unable to go more than 1 inning)
The Cats offense was shut down completely by Gators pitcher Stacey Nelson who went all 7 innings, striking out 12 while walking 3 and only giving up 2 hits.
Coach Candrea had this to say about the game:
This is the time of year when you have to do things you need to. They had a solid pitching performance and some timely hits. This team, we just couldn’t quite make the adjustments we needed to offensively, but I was really proud of Sarah (Akamine) coming in and giving us an opportunity. I really felt during the game that we were just a couple of base runners from getting something going.
Coach Candrea is the premiere coach in the country when it comes to women's softball and I am not going to be the one who monday morning quarterback's his decision to start Sisk over Akamine. It is disheartening to see how dominant Akamine was though in the final 5 frames of the game. Candrea took an educated guess on how Sisk would perform against the Gators and unfortunately, it didn't pan out.
The Cats will face Alabama in an elimination game for the second straight season on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT (11 a.m. Tucson time).