Senior
All-American Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville,
Fla.) went 4-for-4 with a stolen base and two doubles as the Orange and Blue
opened the series at Arkansas with a 6-0 victory at Bogle
Park Friday. A season-best performance for Florida’s lone senior, Moultrie
additionally tallied two RBI and scored two runs for her 13th multiple-hit
performance of the year as UF improved to 27-2 overall and 8-1 in league play.
Freshman Lauren Haeger (Peoria,
Ariz.) went 2-for-3 at the plate, extending her active reached-base streak to
15-straight games as UF tallied nine hits and scattered its six runs in the
third, fourth, fifth and sixth frames to defeat the Razorbacks (18-10, 2-7
SEC).
Sophomore
ace Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla.)
chalked up her 15th victory of 2012, improving to 15-1 in the circle with a
four-hit, complete-game shutout. For the 12th time this season, Rogers went the
distance for her seventh shutout, as the Gators racked up their 16th shutout as
a team this year, the fourth in league play. The righty walked just two
Arkansas hitters and fanned four, while Razorback hurler Chelsea Cohen
shouldered the loss (11-7).
Moultrie
and Haeger both connected for base hits to kick off
the game for the Gators, but after scoreless first and second innings for both
teams, the Gators pushed three runs across in the third, stringing together a three
run, three hit stanza as freshman Sami
Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.) slapped one to the short stop for a base hit to
lead off the inning, while Moultrie roped a ball down the third-base line to
score Fagan for a 1-0 advantage with no outs.
Next up, Haeger knocked her sixth round-tripper over the left-center
fence to plate Moultrie and herself to take the Gators ahead, 3-0. Three
groundouts ended the stanza, but not before UF took a lead it wouldn’t
relinquish.
The
Razorbacks had their chance in the third, loading the bags in the bottom of the
frame on a Devon Wallace walk and Chloe Oprzedek and Jayme
Gee base hits, but with two outs, Rogers fanned Clarisa
Navarro swinging to get out of the jam.
Junior Ensley Gammel (Bakersfield,
Calif.) tacked on another run in the top of the fourth with her third homer of
the season, just her fifth career bomb, smacking a hard-hit ball that bounced
on and then dropped over the left-field fence to give the Orange and Blue a 4-0
lead.
Rogers
forced a three up, three down situation in the bottom of the fourth, bringing
up the fifth, where Moultrie led off with her second double of the day,
accomplishing the feat for the first time since junior Brittany Schutte (Fountain Valley,
Calif.) did so against Maine earlier this year. The Razorbacks then opted to
intentionally walk Haeger, while freshman Bailey Castro (Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
drew a walk to load the bases with no one out, enabling freshman Jess Damico (Gray Summit, Mo.) to come
in as a pinch runner.
After a
Gator strikeout, junior Kelsey Horton (Valrico,
Fla.) dropped a sac bunt that plated Moultrie to extend the UF lead, 5-0, while
Haeger and Damico moved to second and third before
Arkansas retired the side with a strikeout to end the inning.
Moultrie
struck again in the sixth after freshman Katie
Medina (Downey, Calif.) connected for a base hit and moved to second on a
Gator groundout, as the 2011 All-American smacked one to left center for her
fourth hit of the day, giving Medina the go-ahead to trot home for UF’s sixth and final run.
Both squads
went three up, three down in the seventh, sealing the series-opening victory in
favor of the Orange and Blue.
