The sun shined brightly in Athens, Georgia, on Sunday afternoon as Florida’s softball team came up to bat in the top of the first inning at Jack Turner Stadium.
With two outs and teammate Kayli Kvistad on first, freshman outfielder Jordan Matthews hammered a towering pop-fly to right field, which off first glance appeared it would be the final out of the opening frame. However, Georgia right fielder Kendall Burton lost the neon yellow ball in the glaring sun.
It eventually plopped right next to her, giving Kvistad time to round third and head home as UF jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.
The one-run cushion propelled pitcher Aleshia Ocasio and the No. 2 Florida Gators (23-3, 4-2 SEC) to a 5-1 victory over the No. 10 Georgia Bulldogs (26-2, 5-1 SEC).
UF avoided the weekend sweep in front of a stadium-record crowd of 2,457 as Ocasio pitched a complete game, striking out nine and giving up four hits. The senior was perfect through the first four innings and only allowed one multi-hit inning, which occurred in the bottom of the seventh with a 5-0 lead.
“Aleshia really did an outstanding job, going out and limiting them to probably only two hard hits all day long,” UF coach Tim Walton said in a release. “She was the extra bat in the lineup, I felt like we were batting 10 today instead of seven because she pitched such a great game.”
UGA pitcher Kylie Bass threw a complete game as well. The left-hander gave up six hits, four earned runs and hit two Florida batters.
Bass didn’t give up a hit in the top of the fifth, but the Gators grabbed an unearned run. Center fielder Alex Voss came on to pinch run for the inning’s leadoff batter Jordan Roberts, who was hit by a pitch.
After shortstop Sophia Reynoso advanced Voss on a sacrifice bunt, left fielder Amanda Lorenz chopped a ground ball to first base. Voss scampered to third as Georgia first baseman Alysen Febrey fielded the ball and outed Lorenz with a step on the bag. With Voss standing on third base, Febrey inexplicably fired the ball across the diamond. Third baseman Jordan Doggett couldn’t field the throw, and Voss scored on the throwing error and doubled UF’s lead.
Florida carried the 2-0 advantage into the seventh, where first baseman Hannah Adams led off with a bunt single.
Adams advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ocasio, and Reynoso drove her home on a two-out RBI-single to right field.
Lorenz followed by putting the game out of reach. The junior pumped her fifth home run of the season to dead center field, extending her streak of reaching base safely in all 26 of UF’s games this season.
“You’re going to have to bring it every weekend in the SEC,” Walton said. “Nobody feels sorry for you whenever you lose a game, so for us to come back and really keep the spirits right was good to see.”
Follow Mark Stine on Twitter @mstinejr and contact him at mstine@alligator.org.
It was left fielder Amanda Lorenz's birthday on Wednesday. She went 2 for 3 and scored a run in UF's 5-1 win over Florida State.
