Tigers drop one late at Florida

Clint Myers said earlier in the week that Auburn's pitching and defense needed to be excellent if the Tigers planned to snap a 15-year series skid in Gainesville.

The defense failed Saturday night.

Auburn made a pair of fielding mistakes with two outs in the seventh inning, which gave the No. 1 Gators just enough room to escape. Haley Fagan's bumbled grounder put the go-ahead runner on base and Casey McCrackin's dropped fly ball in shallow centerfield allowed her to score as a jubilant, pro-Florida crowd erupted with joy.

Florida won, 4-3.

The game featured a few critical mistakes — the biggest of which was made by home plate umpire Phil Freels during the second inning. A Florida baserunner was thrown out at home and called out to end the inning, but UF coach Tim Walton requested a second opinion from third-base umpire Jim Cooper. After a brief sidebar with Cooper near home plate, Freels reversed his call and declared the runner safe.

That spawned a spirited, protracted argument from Auburn coach Clint Myers. Still, Florida led 2-0.

The Tigers didn't seem fazed by the gaffe. Vic Draper singled home a run in the fourth inning to halve the Gators' lead. Courtney Shea's fifth-inning double allowed Auburn to equalize and McCrackin's RBI groundout moments later moved the visitors ahead 3-2.

That advantage held until the bottom of the seventh.

The two teams resume their series Sunday night at 6 o'clock CDT. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.