On a day when the weather was cold, the Florida bats came out hot.
The No. 3 Gators (11-1) put up a combined 20 runs in their doubleheader sweep of Northwestern State (8-4), winning 15-0 and 5-0.
Junior Kelsey Bruder led the way in game one with two home runs and five RBIs in the third inning alone, during which the Gators scored 11 runs.
“(Coach Tim Walton) says hits are contagious and I completely believe it,” Bruder said. “We just feed off each other and our energy and there was a lot of good talk about girls seeing pitches and seeing spins and communicating that and that’s really important for us.”
UF only had nine hits in the opener but was also able to draw a season high nine walks.
“I think everyone was just trying to look for their pitch and it just happened that she wasn’t throwing it right where we needed it to go,” said freshman Brittany Schutte, who hit a pair of home runs on the afternoon.
The Gators got off to a bit of a slow start in the second game, as they were held scoreless until Michelle Moultrie’s three-run homer in the fourth got them all the runs they would need.
Ace Stephanie Brombacher got both wins, giving up only two hits in seven innings of work. Freshman Erin Schuppert held the Demons hitless in the final two innings of the first game, and fellow freshman Ensley Gammel started off game two with three scoreless frames of her own.
