OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite notching 27 runs against Florida in its regular season series, the No. 8 LSU softball team’s bats fell silent against the Gators in a 4-0 loss to top-seeded Florida in the winner’s bracket of the Women’s College World Series on Friday night at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. 
The Tigers’ freshman pitcher Carley Hoover (18-6) and Florida’s senior ace Lauren Haeger (30-1) dueled in the circle through the first four innings. But Haeger took control at the plate with a two-run homer in the fifth before baffling the Tigers (51-13) in the circle in the last three innings.
“We understand why Lauren Haeger is the Player of the Year,” said LSU coach Beth Torina.”She’s a special player. She had a great day. We didn’t make very good adjustments against her on the mound. And she had the big hit that really was the difference in the ballgame.”
Hoover and Haeger navigated their ways through bases-loaded jams in the first inning before buckling down to allow just a hit a piece through the next three innings.
After junior second baseman Kelsey Stewart led off the top of the first with a triple, the Gators (57-6) loaded the bases with a walk by Hoover and a single.
Hoover kept her composure by prompting junior third baseman Taylore Fuller to fly out to shortstop and notching her second strikeout swinging of the inning.
“It felt good [to get the strikeout],” Hoover said. “On top of the strikeout, our defense was strong all day. We made that double play. Everything that we were doing all day, we were really strong.”
LSU returned in kind by loading the bases in the bottom of the first against Haeger.
Senior center fielder A.J. Andrews led off with a single and sophomore right fielder Bailey Landry reached on a bunt single. Junior shortstop Bianka Bell singled to left field, juicing the bases for sophomore third baseman Sahvanna Jaquish.
Jaquish reached on a fielder’s choice, but Andrews was forced out at home. Kloss closed the inning with a ground out into a double play by senior shortstop Kathlyn Medina to junior first baseman Taylor Schwarz.
Before the play, Medina said she looked to Haeger and said, “Just get me a ground ball, I’ll get us out of it.”
Although she gave up three hits, Haeger was confident in her placement through the first inning.
“I was hitting my spots fine,” Haeger said. “Couple of balls got through the infield soft. And that happens. People are going to get hits like that. But [Kathlyn Medina] made an amazing play, double play to end the inning.”
After the first, Haeger turned the corner by recording three up, three down innings in the second and third inning while Hoover continued to pitch her way out of trouble.
In the top of the fifth, freshman left fielder Nicole DeWitt led off with a single up the middle, bringing Haeger to the plate.
Haeger launched the third pitch of the at-bat into the stands behind the left field wall, giving the Gators a 2-0 lead. With the homer, Haeger became the first player in NCAA history to earn 70 wins in the circle and to hit 70 home runs.
“It feels great,” Haeger said. “I’m just doing what I need to do up there in the circle and at the plate. I’m not really paying attention to numbers so much right now because I’m just trying to take it game by game. But that is a really cool accomplishment, and I hope I can keep it going.”
In the sixth, DeWitt tacked on another run for Florida with a solo homer to right field before sophomore pitcher Kelsee Selman (9-0) replaced Hoover in the circle.
The Gators capped their scoring in the seventh by plating a run on a throwing error.
After taking control of the game with her bat, Haeger closed the game with a dominant performance in the circle.
Haeger retired nine out of the last 10 hitters she faced, including back-to-back three up, three down innings in the sixth and seventh.
“She just did a really good job jamming us on the inside pitch,” Bell said. “She just made adjustments on us and found a way to get it done for her team.”
Despite the loss and being shut out for only the third time this season, the Tigers head into loser’s bracket on Saturday with confidence and determination.
“We have a lot of fight,” Kloss said. “And all of us want this really, really bad. We weren’t satisfied with just making it to the World Series. Our goal is to win it. It’s about how much fight you have. This team has a lot of fight.”
LSU will face the winner of No. 6 seed Alabama and No. 2 seed Oregon at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.