For the second time this season, Florida had a date with South Florida, and like the first meeting, the Gators were in control all night.
That was mainly due to the dominance of sophomore Katelynn “Red” Oxley. Making her eighth start in the circle, she hurled a season-high seven innings and complemented that with five strikeouts.
“What got me through the seven innings was really leaning into my teammates and understanding, getting the pop flies, getting ground balls because they can make amazing plays,” Oxley said.
Behind Oxley, No. 6 Florida (37-5) completes the season sweep over South Florida (29-13) 4-1 on a chilly Wednesday evening at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The Gators have now won 31 of their last 32 games against the Bulls.
The Bulls turned to the reigning American Conference Pitcher of the Week, sophomore Anne Long. But the Seminole, Florida, native ran into trouble early. UF sophomore centerfielder Taylor Shumaker led off the bottom of the first with a laser up the middle and later stole second.
Shumaker was the star of the offense on Wednesday, leading UF with three hits.
Coming into Wednesday night, the Bulls’ defense ranked number nine in the country in fielding percentage (.981), but USF shortstop junior Alex Wilkes committed an error that allowed senior shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan to reach base.
Florida took advantage of the defensive miscue when senior third baseman Kendall Grover lined a single into left, scoring Shumaker and Cahalan, putting Florida up 2-0.
However, the USF defense quickly recovered. In the bottom of the second, junior leftfielder Cassidy McLellan led the frame off with a single that bounced off the third base bag and over the head of the Bulls’ junior third baseman Dania Brooks. Later in the frame, Brooks recovered when sophomore second baseman Gabi Comia grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
Long saw deja vu when Shumaker led the bottom of the third off with a single into left and Florida found itself with the bases loaded with two outs. That set the stage for the designated player junior Ava Brown, and she drew a bases-loaded walk, extending the advantage to 3-0.
Meanwhile, Oxley cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit.
But, Oxley ran into trouble of her own in the top of the fourth. She surrendered a walk to Wilkes, and Brooks broke up the no-hitter with a single into left. Immediately after, junior designated player Jamia Nelson lined another single into left, scoring Wilkes, but Brooks attempted to advance to third and was thrown out by the left fielder, redshirt freshman Townsen Thomas.
In search of insurance runs, senior catcher Guilia Desiderio led the bottom of the fourth off with a walk, but the Bulls’ defense turned their second double play when the speedy Shumaker grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Gators found that insurance in the bottom of the fifth. Once again, Brown found herself up with the bases loaded with one out, and she drew her 27th walk of the year, moving the advantage to 4-1.
Despite the trouble in the fourth, Oxley finished the contest with three consecutive 1-2-3 innings, closing the door on the Bulls.
No. 6 Florida travels to the Palmetto State this weekend to face South Carolina. The series opener is set for 6 p.m. Friday on Beckham Field at Carolina Softball Stadium.
Contact Zach Moore at zmoore@alligator.org. Follow him on X @zach_moore27.
Zach is a sophomore sports journalism student in his first semester at The Alligator, covering softball. He also has experience as an intern in the Florida Collegiate Summer League. Zach enjoys watching sports in his free time, primarily the Minnesota Vikings, Orlando Magic, and Arsenal FC.
