For the fourth consecutive game the Gators jumped out to an early lead, and once again Stephanie Brombacher made it stand up.
The junior ace recorded her third complete-game shutout in her last four appearances, this time holding No. 13 Arizona State (44-16) to just four hits as No. 4 Florida (47-8) got an 8-0 five-inning run-rule victory in Game 1 of Gainesville’s NCAA Super Regional.
With the win Brombacher improves to 33-6 on the season and 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament, where she has pitched every one of the team’s 24 innings and has an ERA of just .88.
The junior has compiled 31 strikeouts to just four walks since the tournament began.
Brombacher also displayed the ability to up the intensity in pressure situations Saturday, holding the Sun Devils to just one hit in nine at-bats with a runner on base.
“I think overall any big pitcher, or any defense in any sport, you gotta buckle down and make a pitch or make a play when someone is on base to avoid giving up a run,” coach Tim Walton said. “It’s just a mentality that you grow up with – do you want to win or do you want to lose? She wants to win.”
On the offensive end, the Gators took an early lead for the fourth game in a row, this time scoring a run in the bottom of the first when junior Kelsey Bruder doubled to left to plate sophomore Michelle Moultrie.
Bruder, who made a couple of emphatic fist pumps after pulling into second, is now 8 for 13 with two home runs and 7 RBI in NCAA Tournament action.
“I was pumped up, I was definitely feeling it,” Bruder said. “Scoring first is really important because it keeps the momentum on your side so yeah, I was really excited.”
Moultrie’s run was the lone score of the game until the bottom of the fourth, when an RBI single by Corrie Brooks stretched UF’s lead to two.
Although Brombacher needed only four batters to retire the side in the fifth, she had already thrown 90 pitches and was just beginning the challenge of facing the powerful Arizona State lineup for a third time.
Fortunately for her, that challenge will have to wait at least another day, as the Gators scored six in the bottom of the fifth to invoke the run rule.
Bruder got things started when she brought Paculba and Moultrie home with another double, and then freshman Brittany Schutte brought Bruder in with a towering two-run homer to left-center.
“We always improve through the lineup as we see the pitcher more and more,” Bruder said. “We were talking about adjustments and what we could possibly do just to see the ball better and not chase, so I do think later in the game that’s when we turn it on.”
Three batters later Brooks launched a monstrous home run over the scoreboard in left-center, scoring another two runs and stretching the lead to the decisive eight run margin.
With the victory the Gators put themselves in a commanding position, needing only a single win on Sunday to advance to the Women’s College World Series for the third consecutive season.
Since the NCAA began using its current playoff system the teams that win the first game of the Super Regional series are 38-6.
UF will have a chance to make that 39-6 this afternoon when they take the field for Game 2 at 3:30 p.m.
