Gainesville Regional (May 15-17) at Gainesville, Florida
No. 1 seed Florida* (50-6) vs. Florida A&M (18-37)
Florida Atlantic (37-17-1) vs. Hofstra (37-12-1)
The University of Florida (50-6) is the top seed and will play host to the Gainesville Regional. The Gators have had a strong season and are looking to repeat as national champions in 2015. They have been getting it done all season long with a balanced attack at the plate and from the circle. Junior Kelsey Stewart has been on fire at the plate posting a .459 average and 66 runs thus far this season. While senior Bailey Castro has provided power hitting 16 home runs. Fellow senior Lauren Haeger is right behind her with 15 and leads the team in RBI (60). Haeger (24-1) has been just as impressive in the circle with her 1.47 ERA and has only allowed eight home runs over 157.1 innings. The Gators have used three pitchers total this season. The other two being freshman Aleshia Ocasio (16-3, 2.11) and sophomore Delanie Gourley (10-2, 2.15).
The Gators will face Florida A&M (18-37) in their first game of the tournament. The Rattlers will have to play at a level higher than they have most the season if they want to pull an upset in this one. Florida A&M comes into the game with a .242 team batting average and are led by junior Jessica Nathan (.306) and Tashay Irvis (.302). Their top pitcher is Keny Pereira (15-14, 3.27). Look for Florida to advance into the next game.
The bottom half of the bracket features Florida Atlantic (37-17-1) and Hofstra (37-12-1).
Florida Atlantic has got things done behind solid pitching all season long, The Owls have used four different pitchers all season long that have combined for a 1.86 ERA. Sophomore Kylee Hanson (17-4) would be considered the staff ace at this point. She has posted a 1.54 ERA with 207 strikeouts over 149.1 innings of work. Florida Atlantic will most likely not beat anyone with the long ball as they only had 23 homeruns total as a team. They do have five starters batting above .300 led by freshman Emily Lochten (.373). Lochten also leads the Owls in doubles (15) and total bases (83). They should right in this game with Hofstra due to pitching but will need to get the bats going to advance.
Hofstra is a team built very similar to Florida Atlantic in the sense they also rely on strong pitching and timely hitting, not power. The Pride used two pitchers in senior Morgan Lashley and senior Taylor Pirone. Lashley (19-2) was sharp posting a 1.95 ERA and 168 strikeouts. Pirone (18-10) often suffered from a lack of run support but did have a 1.87 ERA with 117 strikeouts on the season. At the plate junior Caryn Bailey is the clear leader of the offense. So far this season Bailey is leads the team in batting average (.396), runs (47), triples (2), home runs (16) and several other categories. This game most likely will not be a high scoring one, both teams will lean heavy on their pitching staff. Look for Hofstra to advance in a close one.
Florida should not have many issues advancing to the super regional. That is not meant as a slight to any of the teams in the region, it is just that the Gator offense is dangerous and deep. That does not account for the three outstanding pitchers either.
