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Coming into the season,
expectations weren’t high for the Gators softball team.
Despite being ranked No. 5, they were predicted to finish fifth in
the Southeastern Conference.
19 wins later, Florida has shed that underdog label.
The No. 2-ranked Gators (19-0) tied the record for the best start
in school history after defeating North Dakota State for the second
time this weekend.
Led by senior Aja Paculba’s two home runs and another strong outing
by Stephanie Brombacher, the Gators took down the Bison 9-0 to win
the Lipton Invitational.
Florida showed off its power all weekend, and Sunday was no
different.
Paculba and Brittany Schutte each hit two-run homers in the bottom
of the first, as the Gators once again took advantage of the
Bison’s poor pitching.
In the fourth UF drilled three home runs, as Paculba led off with a
solo homer to left. Kelsey Bruder followed with her fifth of the
season before Megan Bush hit a two-run shot of her own.
While UF coach Tim Walton was pleased with the offense’s
performance, he said he’s still in search of a consistent hitter at
the bottom of the lineup.
“That’s the expectations of me as a hitting coach and head coach,
you got to do a good job of turning the lineup over,” he said.
During the weekend, the Gators showed great patience at the plate —
drawing 38 walks in five games.
“The key is to be disciplined and know what pitches we want to
hit,” Walton said. “We’ll get fooled once in a while, but we won’t
get too impatient by one call.”
Even though the lineup as a whole hasn’t reached its pique, it
hasn’t been an issue because of the dominance of UF’s pitching
staff.
Brombacher struck out five and earned her 11th win, allowing only a
bloop single in four innings of work.
With Brombacher and Hannah Rogers throwing shutouts and one-run
games nearly every time, it takes pressure off hitters, Paculba
said.
“We want to give back to our pitchers,” she said. “They’re doing
their job, it’s our turn to do ours.”
As the Gators open up SEC play Wednesday at LSU, they expect for
the competition to heat up.
“LSU is a great team and their fans are really tough on us,”
Paculba said. “It should be a lot closer than it was this
weekend.”
