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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Briana Little bats during Florida’s 8-0 win against Indiana on Feb. 22 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Little has six RBIs since April 11.</p>

Briana Little bats during Florida’s 8-0 win against Indiana on Feb. 22 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Little has six RBIs since April 11.

Briana Little had the best offensive performance in the 19-year history of the Florida softball program.

Little hit three home runs and drove in nine runs, both UF single-game records, as No. 1 Florida crushed Mercer 20-3 in five innings via run rule in its first game against the Bears on Sunday. UF won the second game 10-3 to improve to 16-0 on the season.

"I just was really excited to get into the game and be ready," Little said. "I was just going up there looking for good pitches to hit hard."

In total, UF hit 10 home runs in the two games against the Bears, which is a far cry from what Walton likes to do with playing small ball and manufacturing runs.

"You can’t defend them," Walton said. "And to have them from a lot of different players and multiple home runs, again very rewarding to see that middle of the lineup just be so powerful."

Little began her record-setting day with a two-run home run in the first inning to give the Gators a 5-0 lead.

In her second at bat, Little would a grand slam in the second inning to cap off a six-run inning, with all the runs coming with two outs to make it 11-1 UF.

After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, Little came up to the plate in the fourth and smashed a three-run home run to put Florida up 14-1.

Entering the day, the Middleburg native had zero home runs and one RBI on the season.

"(I) thought her swings were good," coach Tim Walton said. "Really happy that she answered the call on a start like that. … Her at-bats are solid and happy and pleased for her to set those records."

All in all, Florida had six home runs in the first game: three by Little, one by Lauren Haeger, which was the sixth of her season and the 58th of her career. Haeger is now seven home runs away from tying Megan Bush’s program record of 65.

Freshman Janell Wheaton hit a grand slam in the fifth inning, her first career long ball, and Kathlyn Medina would go back-to-back with Wheaton as she hit her first home run of the season.

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At one point in the game, Florida was up 20-1 and Walton was able to use every substitution he had, so he inserted players who don’t get the same playing time as the regulars.

"A lot of people that I’ve seen, they play their starting lineup all the way through those games," Walton said. "Out of respect to our backup players, practice players practice hard too, so give them a chance to go and some of them came through in a big way."

In the second game of the doubleheader, Kayli Kvistad would take on Little’s role as the power hitter as she blasted two home runs and drove in four runs.

Kvistad has been getting more at-bats lately and is hitting .440 on the season and slugging 1.000 and she ranks second on the team with 17 RBIs.

"It’s just a lot of hard work and dedication and practice," Kvistad said. "Just taking it from the cage to the game is a big part and just felt awesome to help my team in the way I did."

With the University of Florida Aquafina Invitational now in the rear-view mirror, along with a good chunk of the season already over, Little is looking forward to the upcoming challenges for the team.

"I’m really excited for the rest of the season now because we got the first half out of the way and now we’re getting ready to get into the better half," she said.

Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII

Briana Little bats during Florida’s 8-0 win against Indiana on Feb. 22 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Little has six RBIs since April 11.

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