Florida
softball captured its 14th victory of the 2012 season Thursday with a 2-1,
eight-inning victory over Eastern Michigan at Katie Seashole Pressly
Stadium on the eve of UF’s Lipton Invitational, which kicks off Friday at 9
a.m.
With
two runners in scoring position and the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the
eighth, junior Brittany Schutte (Fountain Valley, Calif.) put a ball in
play in the infield, allowing freshman Jess Damico (Gray Summit, Mo.) to
scamper home from third on a fielder’s choice for the 2-1 Florida (14-1) victory.
For Schutte, the game-winning RBI marked her third of the season
The
Eagles, who are in the middle of a 15-game Florida road swing, fell to 2-8 on
the young campaign, as Lauren Wells tallied her fifth loss of the season. The
Gators saw three Eagle hurlers Thursday, starter Jenna Ignowski worked the
first 4.2, Lindsay Rich came on for 2.2 and Wells entered for Schutte’s at-bat,
giving up the game-winning run, Florida’s second score of the contest. EMU’s
pitching staff fanned just four Gators on the day, but held the Orange and Blue
to two hits, while walking five.
Sophomore
Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla.) improved to 9-0 in the circle, registering
the fifth double-digit strikeout game of her career with 11 Ks on the night,
one shy of her career-best 12. Rogers’ last double-digit game came last season
against Alabama on April 24. Rogers gave up just one run on three hits and
walked one in eight innings against the Eagles.
