Lauren Haeger and Bailey Castro did what they do best at Kate Seashole Pressly Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The sophomore sluggers combined for two homeruns and six RBI as No. 3 Florida (28-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) shut out USC Upstate (21-3, 5-1 A-Sun) 11-0.
After a rain delay postponed the first pitch for nearly two hours, Florida came out swinging.
The Gators opened the floodgates in the bottom of the first inning. With runners in scoring position, Castro hit a routine grounder to USC’s Dana Landers, who couldn’t secure the ball, allowing Florida to score on an early error.
Junior Stephanie Tofft followed suit and cleared the bags with a screamer past second base for a two-RBI double, giving Florida an early 3-0 lead.
“I think it was good for us to come out after a rain delay,” Haeger said. “Sometimes it’s a slow start after that, but us coming out getting three runs automatically was good for us,”
But the onslaught of runs didn’t end there.
After freshman Kirsti Merritt beat out a throw to first base to lead off the third, Haeger stepped to the plate.
The sophomore crushed a two-run home run just over the left corner of the wall to give the Gators a 5-0 lead.
Sophomore Briana Little earned her eighth walk of the season to give Florida a runner on first, bringing Castro to the plate. The sophomore belted a two-run homerun to left-center field to increase the lead to 7-0.
In an attempt to stop the bleeding, USC pulled pitcher Sam Poarch.
Spartans junior Anna Miller came in for relief duty and fell behind in the count often. She surrendered two consecutive walks to Tofft and freshman Taylor Schwarz.
Shortstop Katie Medina came up to bat and slapped a single to right field to up the lead to 8-0. After an infield single from Merritt, Haeger came to the plate with runners in scoring position again.
After showing bunt, Haeger shot a line drive to right-center for two more RBI – her third and fourth of the game – to extend the lead to 11-0.
Florida came close to pitching a combined no-hitter. But coach Tim Walton pulled junior right-hander Hannah Rogers after the fourth inning. Sophomore Alyssa Bache replaced Rogers and surrendered the first hit of the evening before ending the game.
Rogers finished with seven strikeouts, punching out half the batters she faced in her four innings of work.
“It was a relatively quiet-type game,” Walton said. “I thought we did a good job of showing we’re going to be able to do the right thing.”
Bailey Castro bats during an exhibition against Santa Fe on Nov. 7, 2012, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Castro struck out in a key spot in Florida's 7-3 win against Florida State on Wednesday.
