First baseman Jordan Matthews measured up a 2-2 offering from Central Michigan pitcher Cloe Mallory and made explosive contact. The softball soared through the desert air and landed over the red fence.
The Gators softball team (10-0) continued its hot start to the season with a combined 25 runs in its two run-rule wins at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona. Florida scored runs in all 10 innings it played. Here’s how it happened:
The Florida Gators never defeated Arizona State in Tempa, Arizona. They were tasked with taking down the 14th-ranked hosts in the second leg of a double-header at the Littlewood Classic on Friday.
The Gators softball team (6-0) heads out to Tempe, Arizona, to partake in five games at the Littlewood Classic following two mid-week games against Team Japan and North Florida. Here are three things to know about Florida’s start to the season:
The Gators’ win over North Florida wasn’t quite the way they drew it up.
It wasn’t about the score as much as it was about the occasion.
TAMPA — Jordan Matthews watched with anticipation as two pitches hit the catcher’s mitt.
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.”
Solutions by The State News
