UF catcher Kendyl Lindaman jogged to first base in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Mercer pitcher Stella Preston pitched around the Minnesota transfer and gave up a walk after Lindaman had already crushed a home run in the first inning.
However, the Bears didn’t avoid another home run. They merely delayed it.
Designated player Jordan Roberts belted a 2-0 offering from Preston on the next at-bat, and the softball traveled over the scoreboard in left-center for a three-run homer.
Roberts’ long ball was one of four for the No. 6 Gators on Sunday. It put the game out of Mercer’s reach at 7-2, as UF collected a 9-3 victory.
Florida (27-6) knocked nine hits and only struck out once.
The top and middle of the batting order were the main sources of its offense, and they gave UF the lead in the first inning. The team’s three through six hitters combined for all nine RBIs.
Center fielder Jade Caraway led off and went 2 for 4 with two infield singles and scored a run. Two-hole hitter Hannah Adams had a 3-for-4 day that included a double and a triple, and she scored three runs.
“Obviously the more they (Adams and Caraway) get on base, the better opportunity we have to score runs,” coach Tim Walton said. “You’re going to give your two best hitters and two biggest RBI getters an opportunity to get RBIs in Amanda (Lorenz) and Kendyl (Lindaman).”
First baseman Amanda Lorenz batted third. While she didn’t record a hit, the All-American launched two RBI sacrifice flies into deep left field, including one in the first for the opening run of the contest.
Lindaman hit fourth and went 2 for 3. Her two-run home run in the first made it 3-0, and she added a solo shot in the sixth. Lindaman muscled four homers against Mercer (13-20) in the two-game series, and she’s hammered eight in the past eight games.
Roberts and right fielder Danielle Romanello each added home runs in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively. Romanello unleashed on a 2-2 pitch and drove a solo home run to straightaway center for the third inning’s only run.
Freshman Elizabeth Hightower toed the rubber for the Gators in the first three innings. She allowed only one hit and one walk and struck out three of the 11 batters she faced.
Sophomore Natalie Lugo (7-3) finished the final four innings and picked up the win.
The Bears had more success against her. They scored two runs on two hits in the top of the fourth to make the score 4-2. Then, Mercer center fielder Allie Jones pumped an RBI single up the middle in the fifth in response to Roberts’ homer.
Lugo settled down after giving up her third earned run. She retired two hitters on strikes to end the fifth and struck out the side in the seventh to end the contest.
“She made some good adjustments today,” Walton said about Lugo. “I thought part of the things… that you don’t see in the stands at times are the cat-and-mouse games that you have to do to be good. And I thought she took a step forward today getting better.”
Follow Mark Stine on Twitter @mstinejr and contact him at mstine@alligator.org.
UF catcher Kendyl Lindaman had four home runs and nine RBIs over the weekend in two games against Mercer.
