Walk-off woe: Florida Gulf Coast home run denies Ospreys in ASUN softball championship

Neely Peterson connected with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning for Florida Gulf Coast, dashing the Ospreys' NCAA Women's College World Series in a 7-6 heartbreaker in Saturday's ASUN softball tournament final.

Both teams had gone scoreless since the second inning until Peterson broke the tie in extras with her homer off UNF's Allison Benning (19-11), clearing the fence at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala.

Florida Gulf Coast (37-19) advances to next week's NCAA Regionals, while for the Ospreys (35-19), the season is over.

Allison Sparkman (12-4) excelled in long relief for the Eagles, working 4 2/3 innings of relief and limiting the Ospreys to two hits and a walk.

Center fielder Madisyn Federico sparked UNF from the start, hitting a leadoff home run in a three-run first inning and finishing 4 for 5 with two runs on the afternoon. Benning reached three times for the Ospreys and Chloe Culp went 2 for 4.

While the Ospreys stranded 10 runners on base, Florida Gulf Coast left only two, converting five hits, three walks and a hit batter into seven runs.

After UNF's three-run first, FGCU scored five times in the bottom of the inning. The game remained stuck at 6-6 until Peterson's blast.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Walk-off woe: Florida Gulf Coast home run denies Ospreys in ASUN softball championship