The Florida softball team made a habit of digging itself into a hole in its series against Texas A&M.
But on Sunday, just like every other game in the series, No. 1 Florida (47-4, 16-4 Southeastern Conference) came from behind against No. 25 Texas A&M (34-17, 9-12 SEC) to win 9-1 in five innings via run rule.
It was another dominant performance from Lauren Haeger in the circle as she pitched a complete game, allowing one run and one hit and striking out seven batters.
“She was really good,” coach Tim Walton said. “Her stuff looked really good. She was throwing well, seven strikeouts in five innings tells you her stuff was pretty good.”
Haeger was economical in the circle as she just threw 58 pitches in the final home game of the regular season. She is now 23-0 on the season with a 1.26 ERA.
On the offensive side, the Gators were lead by Kelsey Stewart as she went 3-for-4 in the game with the game-ending RBI single to score Jessica Damico.
“It’s a good win, they haven’t been swept all year, so for us to do that going into a hostile environment like Missouri is really in our favor,” Stewart said.
Stewart is now hitting .451 on the season and is hitting .548 in SEC play.
Texas A&M got its only run in the top of the first inning as Tori Vidales crushed a solo home run off of Haeger. It was Vidales’ second home run of the series, giving her 17 on the year.
Vidales’ home run was the only blemish on what was a great day in the circle by Haeger. After allowing the home run, Haeger would go on to retire the next 14 Aggie batters in a row to finish off the game.
“I just left that pitch right there, I had her (Vidales) 0-2,” Haeger said. “But I just settled down and really was just focused on each batter.”
Texas A&M sent Kayla Ober into the circle for her first start of the season. After having a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the first, Ober immediately allowed a leadoff triple to Stewart, who came home on an RBI single from Nicole DeWitt.
The Gators would tack on two more runs in the opening frame as they finished the bottom of the first with three runs on six hits.
DeWitt continues to be a bright spot as the No. 2 hitter behind Stewart. DeWitt went 2-for-3 with three RBI in the game and has seen her batting average climb to .347, good enough for third best on the team.
Florida finished the month of April with a 15-0 record and will head to Columbia, Missouri to finish off the regular season against the Missouri Tigers starting on May 1.
“I want to see us prepare, it’s going to be a tough short week with finals and all of that stuff and travel for Missouri,” Walton said. “But I want to see our team do a good job of keep preparing, see our matchups, see our pitchers and just keep getting better.”
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
Lauren Haeger pitches during UF's win against UNF on April 1 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
