Judging off the first inning of each game, it would’ve been pretty easy to predict Saturday’s doubleheader as a pair of blowouts for UF.
But although they scored four runs in the first inning of Game 1 and three in the first inning of Game 2, the No. 3 Gators (33-5, 13-3 Southeastern Conference) combined for just a single run in the other 11 innings and were able to manage only a split with Kentucky (27-17, 11-10 SEC).
“They made some good adjustments based on what we were doing and how we did it,” UF coach Tim Walton said. “Give them credit because both games we started hot and they slowed things down.”
Ace Stephanie Brombacher got off to a rough start in Game 1, surrendering two runs on three hits in the first.
But it only took one swing from Megan Bush to turn a two-run deficit into a two-run lead, as her first-inning grand slam over the left-field foul pole gave UF a 4-2 advantage.
“It was good to come back and learn from the pitches that I had gotten,” Bush said “It was good to and help the team and get us back up on top.”
Both pitchers settled down after their slow starts, and neither team scored again until freshman Kelsey Horton, making only her second career start, homered to center to give UF a 5-2 lead.
Kentucky attempted to mount a comeback in the top of the sixth, leading the inning off with a triple, then hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-3, and then back-to-back hits before Brombacher was pulled in favor of freshman Ensley Gammel. A catcher’s interference call loaded the bases, but Gammel then forced Rachel Riley to ground into a double play to end the inning and the threat.
The Wildcats went 1-2-3 in the seventh, and UF had a 5-3 win.
Game 2 got off to a similar start as the Gators hit the season’s sixth pair of back-to-back home runs, this time by Francesca Enea and Kelsey Bruder, to give them an early 3-0 lead.
But that would be the end of Florida’s scoring, as the team combined for only three hits the rest of the way.
“(Kentucky pitcher Rachel Riley) forced us to hit the ball on the ground a little bit more and they obviously have a really good fielding team so they don’t make many errors and we hit right into everything they wanted us to,” Bush said.
The Gators surrendered an unearned run in the second and two more in the fourth due to errors by shortstop Brittany Walker. It was only Michelle Moultrie’s outstanding outfield assist to get Molly Johnson out at home that kept the game tied heading to the fifth.
But Kentucky quickly broke that tie, scoring two runs on three singles in the fifth to give them the 5-3 lead that would eventually become the final.
After earning the save in Game 1 Gammel took the loss in Game 2, despite yielding only a pair of earned runs and pitching all seven innings.
