Being a freshman for a prestigious powerhouse like Florida softball is a tall task.
But, Leah Stevens hasn’t let that affect her early in her Gator career. In her second career start, the Palm Coast, Florida, native was lights out. She threw her first career complete game and only surrendered one hit in the win.
Behind Stevens, No. 4 Florida (16-0) recorded its second run-rule win on the day, this time defeating Middle Tennessee (3-8) 8-0 on Friday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Fresh off the run-rule victory, Florida’s offense got the scoring started early on, but this time it was due to free passes. The Blue Raiders starting pitcher, Hallie Klabier, found herself in trouble early when she walked three of the Gators first four hitters.
From there, junior Ava Brown came up with the bases loaded and forced the fourth walk of the day by Klabier to give Florida a 1-0 advantage. Brown is in firm control of most drawn walks on the Gators with 19.
Immediately after, Junior Cassidy McLellan was hit by a pitch and scored the second run of the game. Junior Ella Wesolowski grabbed her fifth RBI of the season on a fielder’s choice to extend the margin to 3-0.
Florida wasn’t done from there; it was yet another hit from sophomore Gabi Comia that scored Brown, giving the Gators a 4-0 advantage. Comia has 25 hits on the season and went 3-3 on the night with 2 RBIs.
Florida’s offense died down until the third, but Wesolowski delivered her second RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly, scoring a fifth run for Florida.
All eyes were on sophomore Taylor Shumaker in the bottom of the fifth when Florida needed one run to secure the run-rule, and she delivered. The right fielder hit an opposite-field double to put the nail in the coffin for the Blue Raiders.
Florida returns to action on Saturday with a pair of games beginning at 2 p.m. against Lindenwood at Katie Seashole Pressly 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.
