In its first action since losing three of five for the first time since 2007, the Florida softball team played as well as it has all season Saturday.
In a doubleheader that was severely hampered by rain, the No. 6 Gators (37-7, 17-4 Southeastern Conference) were clicking on all cylinders as they earned a pair of run-rule victories against Mississippi State (26-26, 7-17 SEC) in Starkville.
The dominating performance was a total team effort, as eight different UF players contributed RBIs while both starting pitchers picked up complete-game wins.
Florida got the afternoon started with an 8-0 victory.
Eight different Gators recorded hits as ace Stephanie Brombacher picked up her 25th win and seventh shutout of the season.
Junior Megan Bush got the scoring started in the top of the first with an RBI double. Between this and her 1-for-2 performance in Game 2, the shortstop is 10 for 21 with three homeruns and 10 RBI in her career against the Bulldogs.
After Florida added a pair in the top of the second, Michelle Moultrie extended her hitting streak to nine games with an RBI double in the fourth before Francesca Enea knocked in her team high 53rd and 54th RBI with a two-run single to left.
In the fifth, Brittany Schutte hit her thirteenth home run of the season, stretching Florida’s lead to seven and tying Bush for UF’s freshman home run record.
Kelsey Bruder followed with an RBI double that extended the lead to eight and gave the Gators the win.
Brombacher allowed just three hits in the opener, striking out a trio of Bulldogs en route to the shutout.
The junior has now thrown 19.2 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
The Florida offense picked up right where it left off in the nightcap, scoring on a pair of sacrifice flies in the top of the first.
Mississippi State would cut the lead to one in the bottom of the second, but from there the Gators scored seven unanswered.
Bruder scored twice on wild pitches, Corrie Brooks brought a run home on a squeeze play, Bush hit a solo home run and Paculba added a homer of her own before hitting a two run triple that gave Florida the 9-1 lead that eventually became the final.
Freshman Ensley Gammel got the win in the circle, giving up just a single run in five innings of work while striking out nine.
