Two sophomore Lauren Haeger (Peoria,
Ariz.) blasts accounted for Florida softball’s five runs in Sunday’s
eight-inning, 5-3 victory over the No. 6/7 Tennessee Lady Vols at Katie Seashole
Pressly Stadium. The Gators (27-3, 4-2 SEC) celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with their
fifth consecutive three-game series win over UT (23-6, 3-3 SEC), green
stirrups, headbands and bows, while the first 500 of UF’s 1,107 fans at the
series finale received free green freezer mugs.
All three games between Florida and Tennessee
were decided in eight innings this weekend, making four straight eight-inning
contests between the Gators and Vols dating back to the 2012 SEC Tournament.
Florida topped Tennessee, 6-5, Friday, while the Vols evened the series
Saturday with a 3-1 victory
Haeger used a three-run blast in the bottom
of the sixth to tie the game 3-3, and connected in the bottom of the eighth
with a two-run bomb to walk UF off for the third time this season, the Gators’
second walk-off of the series.
Trailing the Lady Vols 3-0 in the sixth, UF
dug deep for its 11th come-from-behind victory of the season as the Orange and
Blue improved to 3-2 in extra-innings this year and 6-2 against top-25
opponents.
Haeger came on in relief for junior starting
hurler Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla.) in the seventh and went on to earn
the win for Florida Sunday after her own homer in the eighth to improve to 8-1
overall in the circle. Haeger tagged both Lady Vol pitching sisters Ellen and
Ivy Renfroe with homers, hitting her sixth-inning dinger off starter E. Renfroe,
while connecting against I. Renfroe in the bottom of the eighth for the game
winner.
I. Renfroe shouldered the loss in the circle
for the Lady Vols, dropping to 9-3 on the season after coming on in relief with
the game tied at 3-3 after Haeger’s homer in the sixth.
Rogers worked the first 6.2 innings in the
circle for UF, fanning five UT batters and giving up seven hits and just two
earned runs with four walks scattered in between. Haeger walked one in 1.1
innings of hitless, scoreless relief for the victory.
The dual threat Haeger batted .300 throughout
the span of the weekend series against Tennessee (3-for-10), leading UF with
three homers and six RBI. Freshman first baseman Taylor Schwarz (Palm
Beach, Fla.) led the Gator squad with a .375 clip (3-for-8), while classmate Kelsey
Stewart (Wichita, Kan.) wasn’t far behind with a .364 average (4-for-11).
Tennessee scattered one run each in the
second, third and sixth innings, one a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the top of
the second. A Lauren Gibson solo home run in the top of the third gave
Tennessee a 2-0 lead and Gibson struck again with a RBI single in the top of
the sixth to extend the Lady Vols’ lead to 3-0 entering the home half of the
sixth.
Florida capitalized with the top of the lineup
due up, Stewart leading off with a base hit to left field before two-hole
hitter freshman Kirsti Merritt (Lake Panasoffkee, Fla.) drew a walk for
runners on first and second, no outs. Haeger stepped in and blasted a 1-2 E.
Renfroe offering out of the park to knot the game, 3-3.
The Vols put together a mini rally in the top
of the seventh with runners on first and second, one out, but Rogers forced a
Melissa Brown foul out before Haeger came on for the third out in the seventh,
a Lexi Overstreet groundout to third.
Florida went three up, three down in the
seventh to send the game into extras, and Haeger went to work on defense in the
top of the eighth in the circle, held Tennessee scoreless and stranded two Lady
Vol runners on base.
In great position with the top of the order
set to lead things off in the eighth for Florida, Stewart connected for her second
leadoff hit of the day (2-for-4), a bloop single to shallow left field, before
Haeger stepped in with the game still tied 3-3 and one down following a
strikeout, to rock her team-leading 10th long ball to left center for the 5-3
victory.
Haeger finished the afternoon 2-for-2 with
five RBI and two walks.
