Florida Softball: After delay, Gators roll into Regional finals

Teams always have to be on edge during the NCAA Softball Tournament, and Florida Softball is no exception. No matter how well a squad's opening game went, the possibility of the season ending during Saturday's slate of games is always a possibility.

The Gators were never in real danger against South Alabama, but it did take a couple of innings to get things going. After a weather delay in the third inning, Florida came back with a renewed spirit to eventually run rule the Jaguars and advance to the Regional Finals.

Florida Softball: Winner Winner

Florida had won its opening contest on Friday over Florida Gulf Coast 6-0, but the Gators weren't exactly flying out of the gate and didn't put the game out of reach until the sixth inning.

Likewise on Saturday, it took the Gators a go around in the lineup before the bats got going. South Alabama plated a run in the first and heading into the bottom of the third it was still 1-0 as Florida went 1-2-3 in both the first and second innings.

Cue Ava Brown to get the party started as she launched a ball over the right field fence that left the stadium entirely.

Then lightning was detected in the area and the two teams had to wait out a multi-hour delay.

The reset seems to do the Gators good as Skylar Wallace hit a two-run inside the park home run in the fourth inning.

By the fifth inning, Florida was done playing around and put up six more runs to win 9-1 via mercy rule.

South Alabama would go on to defeat Florida Gulf Coast later in the evening to set up a rematch for the Regional Final. The Gators just have to win once to advance to Super Regionals, but if they lose the first game today they will turn around for a winner take all game this evening.

First pitch is at 4 PM.