OXFORD, Ala. - No. 2 North Florida softball (35-19, 17-7 ASUN) earned a trip to the ASUN Championship final after their early afternoon victory, 6-2, against No. 1 Eastern Kentucky (42-10, 21-3 ASUN), but fell later in the title game to No. 4 Florida Gulf Coast (37-19, 16-8 ASUN), 7-6, in eight innings on Saturday afternoon.

The Ospreys received three ASUN All-Tournament Team selections for their stellar performances over the conference championship week. Allison Benning, Shannon Glover and Madisyn Federico all received such honors at the conclusion of the game.

Benning pitched 13.1 of the 14 innings over the pair of games with 209 pitches thrown, 13 strikeouts, three earned runs and five hits allowed. In the second game of the day against FGCU, she came in relief for Arends and only allowed one hit on 96 pitches.

UNF finishes its banner year with 35 wins overall and 17 conference wins, as it was only the second 35+ win season for the program since 2014. It was also the third ASUN Championship title game appearance in five seasons for the Ospreys.

GAME 1 | #2 UNF 6, #1 EKU 2

Allison Benning was electric from both sides of the plate with six strikeouts in the circle and a pair of hits, including a home run, as the Ospreys chipped away with a run in each inning outside of the second to advance to the ASUN title game, 6-2.

Pitchers of Record
Win: Allison Benning (19-10)
Loss: Maddi Rutan (25-5)

Line Scores
UNF | 6 R, 11 H, 3 E, 8 LOB
EKU | 2 R, 4 H, 1 E, 6 LOB

Statistical Leaders
UNF
Savannah Channell | 3-4, 2 RBI, R
Hadlee Reichert | 2-4, RBI, R
Chloe Culp | 2-3
Allison Benning | 2-4, 2 RBI, R, solo HR; 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 113 pitches

EKU
Jeanay Riley | 2-4, 2 R
Vianna Barron | 1-3, 2 RBI
Maddi Rutan | 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 64 pitches

GAME 2 | #4 FGCU 7, #2 UNF 6 (8 Inn.)

An early outburst in runs from both sides through two innings eventually settled down over the course of the game, but as it went into the eighth, the Eagles were able to get a hold of one to walk it off in extras.

Pitchers of Record
Win: Allison Sparkman (12-4)
Loss: Allison Benning (19-11)

Line Scores
UNF | 6 R, 9 H, 1 E, 10 LOB
FGCU | 7 R, 5 H, 5 E, 2 LOB

Statistical Leaders
UNF
Madisyn Federico | 4-5, RBI, 2 R, solo HR
Logan Jackson | 1-4, RBI
Shannon Glover | 2 RBI, R
Chloe Culp | 2-4
Allison Benning | 1-2, R, 3 BB; 6.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 96 pitches

FGCU
Neely Peterson | 1-2, RBI, 2 R, BB, walk-off solo HR
Tiffany Meek | 1-2, RBI, R, BB
Nikki Gibson | 1-3, RBI, R
McKenzie Wittenberg | 1-3, RBI
Allison Sparkman | 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 71 pitches