Florida sophomore righty Alyssa Bache (Clearwater,
Fla.) worked a complete game, giving up just two Hampton (34-25) hits as the
No. 2 seed Gator softball squad (53-7) downed the Lady Pirates, 7-1, to open
NCAA Tournament play Friday evening in front of a crowd of 1,422 in
Gainesville.
In her first postseason start, Bache carried
a no-hitter through four innings to improve to 9-0 on the season, adding her
first postseason victory to a season resume that includes top-25 wins over
Kentucky and FSU. Bache fanned four Lady Pirates and walked just one through
her seventh complete-game effort of the year.
The Gators advance to play game-one winner
USF in tomorrow’s 1 p.m. game. Hampton and Georgia Southern will take to the
field at 3:30 p.m. The losing squad in the 1 p.m. contest will face the winner
of the 3:30 p.m. contest at 6 p.m. Saturday evening at Katie Seashole Pressly
Stadium. All games in the 2013 Gainesville Regional will stream live and for
free on GatorVision.tv.
Florida and USF will meet for the third time
this season, with UF going 2-0 against the Bulls in 2013, including a 3-1
victory in Tampa in February before a 9-1, six-inning run rule in Gainesville
April 10. The Gators and Bulls are no strangers to NCAA Tournament play, as USF
used a 1-0 win over UF in last year’s regional final to advance out of the
Gainesville Regional and eventually on to its first-ever WCWS.
Friday evening, Bache handled a career best
four assists in the circle herself, while the Gators’ defense went to work
behind her. UF chalked up 11 hits on the evening, with two each from freshman Kirsti
Merritt (Lake Panasoffkee, Fla.), junior Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln,
Calif.), sophomore Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) and senior Kelsey
Horton (Valrico, Fla.), Merritt with a perfect 2-for-2 performance with two
runs scored.
Florida added its 19th come-from-behind
victory of the season after the Lady Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the
Gators following an uncharacteristic UF defensive miscue in the first inning.
Hampton’s Margaret Wilkins reached second on the play and was bunted to third
before scoring on a Taylor McCoy groundout for the early 1-0 lead.
The Orange and Blue then put up seven
unanswered runs, four in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to
seal the opening-round victory. Haeger knocked in the game-tying run with a
single up the middle before freshman Taylor Schwarz (Palm Beach Gardens,
Fla.) sent a sacrifice fly to right field for the eventual game-winning RBI.
Horton then followed with a RBI single to left field and sophomore Briana
Little (Middleburg, Fla.) smacked a RBI triple, UF’s 21st three-bagger of
the season, to right field for the 4-1 lead after three frames.
Bache maintained a no-hitter through four
before Diamond Ponds connected for an infield single in the top of the fifth,
but Florida kept Hampton off the board while adding to its tally in the bottom
of the stanza thanks to two solo jacks from Horton and freshman Taylore
Fuller (Trenton, Fla.). Horton stepped into double-digit homers for UF with
her 10th of the season, while Fuller went yard for the third time this year in
her first NCAA Tournament appearance.
In the bottom of the sixth, Haeger capped off
UF’s scoring by delivering a one-out single up the middle before a fly out and
ground out retired UF.
Hampton’s Carla Trimble beat out a two-out
infield single in the top of the seventh for the Lady Pirates’ second hit of
the evening, but Bache had Shine Huwe ground out to sophomore Katie Medina
(Downey, Calif.) at short stop for the final out of the game.
Jailynn Jackson (26-12) was charged the loss
in the circle for Hampton (4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 2 K), as Florida improved
to 19-6 (.760) in NCAA Regional play under head coach Tim Walton with
Friday’s win, making the Orange and Blue 44-29 (.603) all-time in the NCAA
Tournament.
