Florida softball was back on the diamond
Saturday in the second day of the Lipton Invitational at KSP Stadium, and the
Orange and Blue added two victories to improve to an unscathed 10-0 on the
season. The Gators topped Western Carolina, 5-0, and Savannah State, 14-0 (5
inn), the second meeting this weekend between UF and SSU.
Florida has shut out its opponents in all
four Lipton Invite games thus far, run-ruling three of them. UF will cap off a
seven-game week with its final two games of the home tournament this season
Sunday with a second match-up against UNC Wilmington and a tilt with Charleston
Southern.
Florida is off to a 10-0 start for the
third-consecutive season and with their 19 runs in Saturday’s two games, the
Gators have now out-scored their opponents 94-13 this season, including 41-0 on
the weekend. UF has collaborated for 16 extra-base hits this weekend.
Junior ace Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales,
Fla.) earned the start – and victory – in the circle for the Gators against
Western Carolina to improve to 4-0 on the season with the four-hit shutout, her
second shutout of the season. In the second Gator game of the day, sophomore Alyssa
Bache (Clearwater, Fla.) put on a career-best performance, working her way
to a third victory this season, her second against Savannah State in as many
days, with a two-hit shutout and eight strikeouts Saturday after posting a
one-hit shutout in the Friday evening match up with the Tigers.
For Bache, the career-best nine Ks topped her
previous best five strikeouts.
Freshman Aubree Munro’s (Brea, Calif.)
bat came alive Saturday, as the first-year catcher went 2-for-3 (.667) with a
double and triple, scored two runs and pushed three others across the plate. Sophomore
Jessica Damico (Gray Summit, Mo.) also batted .667 on the day, going
2-for-3 with a three-run homer against the Catamounts.
After a 5-0 win over WCU in UF’s first game
of the day, Florida exploded on offense for a 14-run, eight-hit performance
against Savannah State. UF posted an eight spot in the first inning and six
runs in the third against the Tigers.
Sophomore Bailey Castro (Pembroke
Pines, Fla.), junior Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln, Calif.), sophomore Katie
Medina (Downey, Calif.) and Munro all collaborated with RBIs in the first
inning against Savannah State in game two for an eight-run, four-hit stanza for
the Orange and Blue. Florida then exploded for a six-run, four-hit third frame,
highlighted by Munro’s triple and a junior Ensley Gammel (Bakersfield,
Calif.) three-run jack, her second homer of the year to shut down the Tigers.
Bache fanned a career-high nine batters,
including two in the top of the fifth, to secure the game for the Gators.
SSU hurler Amanda McDowell dropped to 1-2 on
the season. Megan Uhrman and Torrian Wright connected for a hit each to account
for Savannah State’s two hits in the tilt with Florida.
In UF’s first game of the day against WCU, six
different Gators connected for hits against the Catamounts, led by Damico’s
1-for-1 game with a three-run blast.
A Merritt RBI double started things off for UF
against the Catamounts in the top of the first for the early 1-0 Gator lead and
it wasn’t until the fifth that Florida put up its next run after a spark on
defense when sophomore Briana Little (Middleburg, Fla.) laid out for a
ball in foul territory to retire WCU in the bottom of the fourth.
Little then led off the top of the fifth for
the Gators with a single through the left side, swiped second and moved to
third on a wild pitch to get into scoring position. Next up, freshman Taylore
Fuller (Trenton, Fla.) drew a one-out walk and swiped second for two runners
in scoring position for the Orange and Blue. Medina proceeded to plate her
first run of the year on a ground out that moved Little home to take the Gators
up, 2-0, after the fifth.
A Damico three-run round-tripper, her first
of the season, extended the Gator lead, 5-0, after Florida’s turn at the plate
in the sixth frame thanks to a three-run, three-hit outing for Florida in the
inning. A Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) hit to left and a Castro base
hit to center put runners on first and second to set up Damico’s three-run bomb
for the Gators’ final three runs of game one.
WCU pitcher Taylor Sigmon was 2-for-2 at the
plate to aid the Catamounts’ offensive efforts, accounting for half her team’s
hits against the Gators, but the righty was tagged with her first loss of the
season in the circle as WCU moved to 5-3 on the season.
