Coming off a weekend sweep of the No. 24 Kentucky Wildcats to begin its conference schedule, the No. 2 Florida softball team kicks off its first SEC road series tonight at 6 in Athens, Georgia.
The Gators (22-1, 3-0 SEC) must endure the nation’s most treacherous conference. Eleven of the SEC’s 13 teams reside within the top 25, five of which — Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU and Georgia — rank in the top 10.
And while UF starting pitcher Kelly Barnhill has made headlines with performances such as her perfect game against Georgia State on Feb. 25, her conference competition has been equally impressive.
Alabama’s Alexis Osorio pitched a complete game with 21 strikeouts in a 7-2 victory over Fordham on March 10. The performance tied an NCAA-record as Osorio got all of her team’s outs via strikeout.
Georgia pitcher Brittany Gray hasn’t allowed an earned run all season. In 64 innings of work, she’s only walked seven batters.
Barnhill and Gray are expected to duel tonight at Jack Turner Stadium. The No. 10 Bulldogs (24-1, 3-0 SEC) enter on a 23-game win streak and will look to hand Florida its first SEC series loss since April 2016 against Alabama.
Georgia is known for playing small ball, similar to the somewhat successful approach Kentucky used against Barnhill on Sunday. Wildcats shortstop Katie Reed went 3-for-3 against Barnhill, bunting on every at-bat.
The Bulldogs’ style focuses on bunting as well, but also includes stealing bases.
“They’re as fast as anybody we’ve played this season,” UF coach Tim Walton said. “We can’t give them a whole lot of extra bases.”
Georgia has stolen 52 bases this season, more than double UF’s total (19) and good for the 16th best mark nationally. The Bulldogs have only been caught stealing seven times.
They also maintain their field in unique condition so that it plays to their advantages. UGA keeps its clay hard so that ground balls move quicker and bounce with less predictability than when they’re slapped into the ground.
“They’re slappers, (they) put the balls down into their field, which is pretty hard,” shortstop Sophia Reynoso said. “They have it set up for their hitters, and so I’m getting ready to prepare and practice by working on those choppers so I can get good handles on the ball and play the balls that are hit to me.”
The Bulldogs also have one of the country’s best pitching staffs. They have three starting pitchers with sub-1.00 ERAs and have only given up more than two runs twice this season, once in a victory against Arkansas on Monday and in their only loss of the season against No. 6 Oregon on Feb. 8.
“(Georgia’s) as tough as a pitching staff as we’ve had to prepare for,” Walton said. “We’re going to have to play error-free softball to stay in the ball games.”
Follow Mark Stine on Twitter @mstinejr and contact him at mstine@alligator.org.
Shortstop Sophia Reynoso and the rest of the Gators' infield could have their hands full tonight against a speedy Georgia team.
