For the second-straight year, the Gators were the top team in the Southeastern Conference during the regular season.
The Florida softball team has been waiting for three weeks.
Heading into the top of the seventh inning, Florida found itself in an unusual position.
Chelsea Herndon doesn’t get much playing time.
Amanda Lorenz stepped off the bus in College Station, Texas, with six home runs in her freshman season and four since April 8. But hitting a home run is one thing. Hitting your first career grand slam on an 0-2 pitch against a top-ranked Southeastern Conference rival to put the series-opener out of reach is another. Her bases-clearing homer drove in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th runs of No. 1 Florida’s sixth-inning rally in its commanding and convincing 14-3 win over No. 18 Texas A&M on Friday. “Getting the fourth run of the game was huge, and being able to throw up 10 runs in the sixth was great as well,” coach Tim Walton said in a release. “I was really working hard over to scratch and claw to get us some more runs. I didn’t think four was enough, as Texas A&M has a great offense.” Neither team scored in the first, but Gators’ pitcher Delanie Gourley got off to a quick start. The junior southpaw retired her first batter after one pitch and went on to throw three innings and four strikeouts before letting a batter reach base. Florida’s (46-3, 16-3 SEC) offense struck in the second inning after Janell Wheaton was hit by a pitch and maneuvered her way around the basepath to third via an error on a fielder’s choice. Wheaton put UF up 1-0 after scoring on a throwing error by the Texas A&M catcher as junior Justine McLean stole second. Wheaton helped Florida tack on three more runs in the top of the third. The sophomore hit a double to centerfield to drive in two more runs before she scored on a base hit by Taylore Fuller. Texas A&M (34-14, 6-12 SEC) slowly began to pull itself back into the contest. In the fourth, the Aggies pulled within two runs after a leadoff single and an ensuing throwing error from Gourley. A fifth-inning home run from Aggie freshman Samantha Show cut Florida’s lead to 4-3. But just as Texas A&M came close, Florida’s bats caught fire. The 10-run rally in the top of the sixth started with Kirsti Merritt and Nicole DeWitt stringing a couple singles together to go up 6-3. A two-RBI single from catcher Aubree Munro and an RBI double from sophomore Aleshia Ocasio, a UF pitcher with just 10 at-bats on the year, followed. A bases-loaded walk put the Gators up 10-3, and Lorenz’s home run sealed the deal. After her hit, Ocasio closed the game out in the bottom of the sixth because of the eight-run rule. “Both of our pitchers did a great job,” Walton said, saying Ocasio specifically changed the game’s momentum when she came in. With the win, UF reached a 16-3 SEC record, its best mark since 2012. UF will play Game 2 of its series with the Aggies at 1 p.m. in College Station, Texas.
When Amanda Lorenz stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, only one thing mattered.
Kelly Barnhill stood in the pitcher’s circle, having given up a leadoff hit and a walk in the top of the second inning.
In the bottom of the first inning in the second game of No. 1 Florida’s doubleheader against No. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette, cleanup hitter Kayli Kvistad walked into the batter’s box with two runners on base.
The UF softball team has dominated Florida State over the last decade.
The softball team will take on its toughest test of the season against No. 6 Alabama at 6 p.m. .
With runners on second and third base in the bottom of the seventh inning, shortstop Kelsey Stewart threw to first.
The Gators (20-0) outclassed their opponents on Saturday, winning both games of their doubleheader in dominating fashion on the second day of the Aquafina Invitational in at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Delanie Gourley’s bid for a perfect game ended when Florida International right fielder Dominique Grossman homered to left field with one out in the sixth inning — the first home run that Florida’s pitching staff has allowed in 2016.
Aleshia Ocasio was dominant on Saturday.
The Gators will hit the Golden State desert for their third tournament of the year.
When Aleshia Ocasio got the strikeout to put the lid on a Saturday doubleheader, a sigh of relief swept across the dugout.
It was supposed to be a clash between the two top teams in the country — a rematch of last season’s dramatic Women’s College World Series — when No. 1 Florida squared off against No. 2 Michigan in the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament in Tampa on Saturday.
After winning back-to-back national championships, Florida entered the 2016 season hoping to pick up where it left off.
The Florida softball team will begin its national championship defense from the same place it started last season’s: The top.
Depth and versatility are two qualities essential to any championship team.
Solutions by The State News
