In its three previous matchups earlier in the season, the Florida softball team dominated South Carolina.
And in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, nothing changed.
No. 2 Florida (50-5) beat South Carolina (37-20) 10-1 in five innings via run rule behind the bat of Kelsey Stewart.
Lauren Haeger took to the circle looking to continue her perfect record in tact. After recording the first three outs of the game though, Haeger along with both teams, would have to wait two hours and 16 minutes before the next pitch was thrown because of a weather delay.
After the delay, Stewart went right to work. She led off the bottom of the first with a triple to right centerfield and would come around to score after a Taylor Williams error.
It was just the beginning for Stewart.
She singled in her second at bat and would come home all the way from second base after a Kirsti Merritt bunt single.
Stewart used her base running instincts to read the ball when it was bunted and didn’t hesitate at all when rounding third base.
Stewart would pick up her third hit of the game in the third inning after she laced a single left field. She would cap off her day when she sent a thunderous 2-run home run over the right field fence to give the Gators a 10-0 lead.
All in all, Stewart finished 4-for-4 with two extra base hits, 2 RBI and two runs scored. She’s now hitting .463 on the season with 88 hits, and was a terror against South Carolina in the team’s last two meetings as she went 8-for-8.
In the circle, Haeger improved to 24-0 on the season after pitching four innings and allowing two hits without recording a strikeout.
Haeger doesn’t seem to be thinking about having a perfect record through 55 games.
“I take inning by inning,” Haeger said. “That’s really cool, I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter the next game, so I’m just going to go out there and keep doing what I’m doing.”
As a team, Florida recorded four sacrifice flies -- two from freshman Janell Wheaton, one by Merritt and the last one by freshman Kayli Kvistad.
After sitting around for over two hours during the weather delay, it might’ve been tough for the Gators to refocus on the game. The team stayed loose in the dugout and didn’t need much time to get back into gear once the game started.
“Coach Tim Walton is really big on that,” Haeger said. “If we’re going to mess around in the dugout or have a good time during rain delays, we need to bring the intensity out back on the field.
“I think we did a good job we just refocused. Got our hits our RBIs when we needed to and got it done.”
A television broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
Kelsey Stewart swings during Florida’s 8-0 win against Indiana on Feb. 22, 2014 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
