TAMPA -- The Gators walked into USF Softball Stadium knowing that Saturday’s doubleheader against No. 19 Michigan and No. 7 Arizona was going to be their toughest test at the USF Opening Weekend Invitational.
TAMPA -- The UF softball team was dialed in from the first pitch of the season.
The UF softball team heads down to Tampa this weekend to play its first five games while the finishing touches are put on the newly renovated Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The month of February ushers in a new season of Florida softball, and there’s a lot about coach Tim Walton’s program that’s new.
Nothing said at Saturday night’s press conference indicated that the UF softball team was disappointed in how its season ended, but it was evident.
Florida right fielder Jaimie Hoover slapped a ground ball to third base, turned and sprinted down the first-base line. Down two runs, the junior batted in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and put all of her energy into running the 60 feet to beat out the play. She was caught a step short.
Jordan Roberts stepped into the batter’s box as a pinch hitter in the Women’s College World Series.
The Florida Gators (55-9) arrived in Oklahoma City as the No. 2 overall seed and the favorite in their Women’s College World Series bracket to advance to the championship round.
The home run.
Almost exactly a year ago, Jordan Matthews was in Anaheim, California, being helped off the field by her El Dorado High School teammates. A senior at the time, Matthews tore her ACL after hitting a stand-up double in postseason play.
With her team down one run, UF pinch hitter Danielle Romanello stepped up to the plate with two outs, a runner on first and an opportunity to ignite a seventh-inning rally for the second-straight night. After the count reached 1-1, the freshman took to two big hacks at pitches from Texas A&M’s Payton McBride but couldn’t put metal on the softball to extend the game.
Janell Wheaton didn’t just walk to first base. She sprinted.
“This will never happen again.”
“The Florida Way.”
As a Gatorade shower rushed down the spine of UF pitcher Aleshia Ocasio, many of her teammates led the crowd at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the Gator Chomp.
Like a carousel, the UF softball team rotated through its lineup in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.
UF pinch hitter Jaimie Hoover sprinted across the bases in the bottom of the second inning. She knew the pitch smacked to dead center field was destined to leave the ballpark, but she couldn’t wait to round the bases and greet her teammates.
UF’s Aleshia Ocasio stood in the circle as her teammates rushed to meet her.
UF third baseman Nicole DeWitt embraced teammates Kayli Kvistad and Amanda Lorenz at home plate. She just launched a two-run home run into the stratosphere above the Mizzou Softball Stadium, sparking a three-run opening inning for the No. 4 Gators.
Crack!
Solutions by The State News
