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On Friday night, when other UF
students were figuring out their entertainment for the evening,
Kelsey Bruder was trying to grind her way out of a two-game hitless
slide.
“My
mom, we got in the car, and she said ‘OK, honey, where do you want
to go to eat?’” Bruder said. “I go, ‘No, mom, we’re going to the
cage.’”
With former Gators catcher Kristina Hilberth on toss duty, the
senior left fielder hit for just under two hours, swinging six
different bats about 80 times each.
About 13 hours later, Bruder hit a first-inning two-run blast in
Florida's 2-0 victory over Tennessee (44-9, 20-7 Southeastern
Conference) on Saturday afternoon.
From there, the rest of the game was dictated by the Gators (46-8,
20-7 SEC) strong pitching and defense. Florida limited a Volunteers
team that leads the nation in batting average and SEC in stolen
bases, but UF catcher Tiffany DeFelice set the tone early when she
rejected Kat Dotson’s attempt to steal second in the first
inning.
Florida’s defensive prowess was illustrated on back-to-back plays
in the fourth, one of only three innings in which the Volunteers
threatened to score.
First, UT second baseman Lauren Gibson grounded into a difficult
backhand play, which freshman shortstop Cheyenne Coyle continues to
make look routine.
“I
haven’t seen a kid on my team make a play like that in any
position,” Walton said.
After hitting into the fielder’s choice, Gibson was thrown out at
home trying to score on a double on a relay by Aja Paculba.
“It’s textbook — cuts and relays,” DeFelice said. “It’s what we
work on every single day.”
The
senior catcher shared her Senior Day with pitcher Stephanie
Brombacher, who she has played with since seventh grade.
“We
just clicked from the second we met each other, and it’s history
from then,” DeFelice said.
While Brombacher was able to hold in her emotions during the
ceremony, she couldn’t hold back tears while talking about her
catcher after the game.
“We
don’t know how many games left we’re going to play with each
other,” she said.
Brombacher tossed 3.1 innings before handing the game over to
Hannah Rogers (29-5), who picked up a win for the second
consecutive day.
Walton said both Gators pitchers were mixing their speeds well,
especially Rogers during her game-ending strikeout of designated
player Melissa Davin.
“Hannah was throwing gas,” he said. “She looked good.”
Tennessee had not lost consecutive games all season before the two
defeats to start the series. Florida goes for the sweep and the SEC
East title Sunday at 3 p.m.
Seniors Paculba, Bruder and Megan Bush will be honored before the
game.
“It’s sad,” Bruder said. “I joked with my friend that I’m going to
sprint through [the line of teammates] and grab all the flowers, so
I can skip the crying.”
