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After a long Game 1 in the Women’s College World Series Championship, the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners are back at it tonight.
Monday night’s game was the longest game in championship series history and Florida’s history.
The game was 17 innings long, lasting five hours and twenty-eight minutes. During the game, there were 122 at bats and the biggest number of the night… 496 pitches.
Florida Pitching
It’s still a question to who head coach Tim Walton will start for Tuesday night after a 17-inning game. It could be ace Kelly Barnhill, who allowed five runs, pitched nine innings with threw 128 pitches
It could be senior pitcher Delanie Gourley who relieved Barnhill in the top of the eighth inning. She pitched through the 16th inning, then Barnhill came back in the game. Gourley allowed four hits, two runs and had 121 pitches.
The Sooners could see a not-so-familiar face if Aleshia Ocasio gets the start. This could be Ocasio’s first appearance in the circle this series but she could just stay at third base, a position she had filled in tremendously.
Previous Years
Florida has been in this position before. In the 2009 season, they faced Washington in the championship series. The Gators lost the first game 8-0 and could not recover during the second game, losing 3-2.
The Gators were in the same position in 2011 facing Arizona State. They lost the first game, 14-4, and then the second game, 7-2.
Florida would then return to the title series in 2014 and sweep the Alabama Tide for their first national title in school history.
In the 2015 season, Florida was able to come back to Oklahoma City and win the title for a second straight year but not as easy as the previous year. The Gators beat Michigan in the first game, 3-2. Then lost the second game, 1-0. The Gators of course took Game 3.
With a win tonight, Florida could get their first win in a championship series after losing the first game in school history.
First pitch is set for 8 p.m. with live coverage on ESPN.
