AU SOFTBALL: Tigers brace for No. 1 Florida in SEC Tournament

Myesha Finney can’t explain it.

Well, she can try, but the only solutions she can come up with end in laughs and maybes.

Finney just loves hitting against Florida ace Stacey Nelson. The rest of the hitters in collegiate softball do not.

“Since freshman year, I’ve just been able to,” Finney said. “Maybe it’s because she’s one of the best pitchers in the SEC or maybe there is a little rivalry between us that she doesn’t know about.”

Auburn will take on No. 1 Florida in today’s first round of the SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn. Undoubtedly, the Tigers will see Nelson, the holder of seven all-time Gator records, who brings a 32-3 record and a 0.36 ERA into today’s 4 p.m. single-elimination game.

That’s just fine with Finney. It’s the rest of the Tigers who should be concerned.

Finney went 3-for-6 in Auburn’s doubleheader sweep to No. 1 Florida earlier this season at the Jane B. Moore Softball Field.

The rest of her teammates went 2-for-39.

“It’s going to take a clutch hit,” coach Tina Deese said. “We’re going to have to seize opportunities. If we’re going to make it different, we’re going to have to capitalize on our situations where we have runners in scoring position.”

After weeks of not doing that in ugly losses to Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, the Tigers (29-26, 9-19 SEC) snapped out of their funk this past weekend against LSU. Though they still lost the series, the Tigers wrapped up the one win they needed to make the
conference tournament as the eighth-and-final seed.

Finney again led the way in Auburn’s 6-1 win Saturday, as the leadoff hitter, who was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team and Second-Team All-Conference on Wednesday, went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

“It is positive momentum and we have played decently the last few games,” Deese said. “We’ve been matched up with incredible teams.
Hopefully, we can hit the tournament and maybe generate a little offense.”

Auburn will counter Nelson with junior Anna Thompson, who has led the Tigers’ injury-riddled pitching staff with a 14-14 record and 2.11 ERA.

Thompson limited the Gators to three runs over seven innings in Game 1 of the teams’ April doubleheader.

“She’s going to have to manage, and that’s always tough for this time of year,” Deese said. “She did a fine job against them here at our place, but rising to the occasion of the SEC Tournament is another thing.”

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