College

Stetson Rally Falls Short, Ending Historic 2014 Season

Gainesville, Fla. — The Stetson softball team attempted a second dramatic comeback in as many days, but instead had its history-making season come to end Saturday following a 6-4 setback to UCF at the NCAA Gainesville Regional.

The Hatters (39-14) fell to No. 5 national seed Florida 14-0 earlier in the day.

UCF (43-17) advances to face Florida in the regional final on Sunday.

Stetson trailed 6-0 after three-and-a-half innings, but the Hatters rallied with a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the seventh to cut the deficit to 6-4.  With two outs and the winning run at the plate, Jessica Griffin drove a ball to deep rightcenter field before it was hauled in for the final out of the game.

"We had an opportunity at the end to actually win it," Stetson head coach Frank Griffin said. "Frankly, I thought the ball was going over the fence. It didn't quite have the backspin that I hoped it would have on it."

Stetson completed the 2014 season with its highest win total since 2008 and its sixth-highest win total of all-time.  The Hatters also went 4-0 to win the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and posted their first NCAA postseason victory in school history against the Knights on Friday.

"It was a very rewarding season for the players, the coaching staff, and for me in particular, Frank Griffin said.  "This group was 5-2 in the postseason. That's a big accomplishment for us at Stetson."

Jessica Griffin got the Hatters on the board in the fourth inning with an opposite field home run, which marked Stetson's school-record 46th round-tripper of the season.

Jessie TenBroeck went 3-for-3 at the plate with two singles and a double. She also scored twice, setting a new single-season school-record with 49 runs scored.

Meredith Owen and Kayla Drury added RBI singles for Stetson.

Brittany Hawn had a putout and three assists, extending her errorless streak to exactly 100 consecutive chances.

Owen also had five strikeouts in the circle in the final game of her illustrious career.  She received an extended standing ovation before departing in the top of the fifth inning.  Owen finished her four seasons at Stetson with 71 career wins and 33 career home runs.

Chrissy Morello had two hits Saturday to run her career total to 206. She also stole 81 bases and scored 125 runs during her four seasons.

Sarah Read pitched three spotless innings of relief Saturday and completed her two-year career with 10 wins in the circle.