Four Gators went yard Sunday as the Florida
softball squad put on a show at Farrington Stadium to cap off a stellar weekend
at the Kajikawa Classic with a 14-3 victory over No. 13/14 Arizona to start the
2013 season undefeated (5-0).
The Orange and Blue walk away from Tempe with
victories over two top-five programs in No. 3 Cal and No. 5 Oregon in addition
to Sunday’s win over the Wildcats. Cal, Oregon and Arizona were predicted to
finish first, third and fifth, respectively, in the Pac 12 preseason coaches’
poll.
Individually, Florida was led at the plate by
freshman Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kan.), who batted .556 (10-18) and registered
a 1.111 slugging percentage over the weekend with 10 runs, two doubles, a
triple, two home runs, five RBI and five stolen bases throughout the three-day
tournament.
All 16 Gators saw action in UF’s
season-opening tournament, including all three pitchers, each of them picking
up wins – junior Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla.) against Oregon and
Cal, sophomore Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) against Creighton and
Arizona and sophomore Alyssa Bache (Clearwater, Fla.) against the Cal
State Northridge Matadors Saturday.
Florida registered a .303 batting average as
a team on opening weekend with 40 hits, nine doubles, a triple, eight homers –
two each by Stewart and freshman Taylor Schwarz (Palm Beach, Fla.) – and
36 RBI. Sophomore Bailey Castro (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and freshman Kirsti
Merritt (Lake Panasoffkee, Fla.) both connected for grand slams, Castro
against Arizona and Merritt against Creighton Friday. The Gators were
additionally 14-15 in the stolen base category over the weekend.
UF put up 14 runs on nine hits against
Arizona Sunday, including five of those in the top of the first frame to get
out to an early lead and give Haeger confidence and insurance to work with in
the circle. As a team, the Orange and Blue drew 10 walks to aid their winning effort.
The Gators batted through the lineup in the
first frame against starting Wildcat hurler Shelby Babcock as Kelsey Horton (Valrico,
Fla.), junior Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln, Calif.) and Schwarz all had one
RBI each in the first inning, while Haeger crossed home on a Arizona throwing
error and freshman Taylore Fuller (Trenton, Fla.) scored on a Babcock
illegal pitch.
Florida contained Arizona in the bottom of
the first and stranded two of its own in the second before Haeger sat down the side
in the bottom of the inning by catching Lauren Young and Darcy Taylor looking
and forcing Alex Lavine to pop up for the third and final out.
The bottom of the lineup came through for the
Gators in the top of the third with a Briana Little (Middleburg, Fla.)
walk in the seven spot, while a junior Ensley Gammel (Bakersfield,
Calif.) walk turned over the lineup to set up Stewart’s second hit of the day,
a RBI single up the middle that extended UF’s lead, 6-0, and chased Babcock
from the circle in favor of Estela Pinon for the Wildcats.
Florida’s defense shined, especially in the outfield,
in the bottom of the third when UF turned a double play allowing Horton to show
off her arm. Zona’s Brigette Del Ponte flew out to Horton in right field and
Horton gunned to Tofft at third to throw leadoff hitter Chelsea Suitos out on
the play. On the next at bat, Little followed a hard-hit Kelsey Rodriguez ball
into the left-field fence to make the third out of the inning and maintain the
7-0 Florida lead.
Arizona tacked on its first run of the
contest in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Chelsea Goodacre leadoff long
ball to left, but Florida got the run back in the top of the fifth when Stewart
slapped a homer over the centerfield fence in the top of the fifth to give the
Gators their eighth-run of the contest
A Del Ponte RBI double and Rodriguez sac fly
added two to Arizona’s tally in the bottom of the fifth for a 8-3 ballgame and
a scoreless sixth inning for both squads set up a monster seventh for the
Orange and Blue.
The Gators put up six more runs on three hits
in the top of the frame, started by back-to-back solo shots for UF as Schwarz
and Gammel both jacked balls out of the park. With bases loaded after Stewart
and Merritt walks and a Wildcat defensive error that put Horton on first,
Castro – pinch hitting for Haeger – knocked UF’s second grand slam out of the
season to clear the bags with no outs on the board. A pop up and two
strikeouts, including Rogers’ first-career at-bat, retired the side for the
Gators and sealed the deal as Hannah, who relieved Haeger in the circle for the
final two outs, handled a groundout and fanned Rodriguez and Goodacre to retire
the side in the bottom of the seventh.
Haeger (2-0) finished the morning with three
strikeouts through 5.0 innings pitched and allowed the Wildcats three earned
runs, while giving up four walks before Rogers came on for two innings of
scoreless relief.
Babcock shouldered the loss for the Wildcats
to move to 2-2 on the season.
