Florida Gators softball sweeps away Ole Miss

Special report on the Florida Gators softball team:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 1-ranked Florida shut out No. 18 Ole Miss for the third consecutive game in a 5-0 decision to complete the series sweep at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. It’s the first time the Gators have shut out the Rebels in a three game series since the 2009 season.

 

Florida (44-3, 18-2 SEC) returned with sophomore Kelly Barnhill (20-0) in the circle in the final game and she hurled five innings before being relieved by junior standout Aleshia Ocasio for the final two innings of play. Barnhill struck out nine Rebels and issued only one walk with a pair of scattered hits on 73 pitches.

 

Ocasio capped the game with three strikeouts, one walk and one hit.

 

Ocasio’s bat provided the first run of the game in the third inning. With the bases loaded, the junior placed a ball towards the Ole Miss shortstop Paige McKinney that allowed a speedy Justine McLean to score from third for a 1-0 lead in the contest.

 

In the very next inning, Kayli Kvistad cleared the bases with a two out three RBI double that hit off the top of the center field wall. It was Kvistad’s 11th double of the season and third of the week.

 

The Gators loaded the bases a double from Sophia Reynoso, a walk from Amanda Lorenz and an infield single from Nicole DeWitt. Florida tallied three doubles in the game.

 

Freshman pinch hitter Jordan Roberts put the finishing touches on the Gators scoring efforts in the game with a sky-high SAC fly to left field with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Fellow freshman Jaimie Hoover reached via hit by pitch and moved to third thanks to a single by Chelsea Herndon and a walk by Reynoso.

 

Next up for Florida is an SEC series in Knoxville against the University of Tennessee for its final SEC series of the 2017 regular season. First game is set for Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m.

 

Coaches Corner

On the team feeling fatigued and a break from midweek competition…

“Yeah I mean we’re heading into finals week, so it’s really not a break. You’re talking about a different fatigue, and I think that’s what we’re suffering from right now. It’s just a little bit of final fatigue you know, just a little bit of academic stress. But overall, no excuses we have got to come out and be ready to go and take care of business. We’re getting ready to play a great team, Tennessee, in Knoxville. It’s a tough place for us to play, and we’ll do everything in our power to prepare well this week and take care of our athletes.” – Tim Walton

Notables

  • The Gators improved to 20-2 and now have a combined 14 shutouts over Top 25 competition this season.

o   Florida has also held Top 25 opponents to just one run in an additional six games.

  • This is the first time since 2009 that Florida has shut out Ole Miss in a three game series. That year the Gators outscored the Rebels 18-0.

o   It is also the second-straight series sweep over Ole Miss and extends the win streak out to nine games.

  • Kelly Barnhill improved her scoreless inning streak 43.1 innings. It’s the second 40-plush scoreless inning streak produced by the talented sophomore this year.

o   Barnhill’s weekly stat line was 25 strikeouts, four hits and one walk over 12.0 innings pitched with a .103 opponent batting average.

  • Barnhill improved to 20-0 on the season for her first 20-win season of her career.

o   She is also the only pitcher in the nation left undefeated with a minimum of 15 wins.

  • Kayli Kvistad extended her hit streak out to five games after her 1-for-2 performance at the plate.

o   Her three RBI double in the fourth pushed her to her 11th multi-RBI game of the season and her fourth game of three or more RBIs.

o   Kvistad finished the week 7-of-11 (.636) from the plate with three doubles, eight RBIs, two walks and a run scored.

  • DeWitt extended her reached base streak to nine games with a four game hit streak and her 12th multi-hit game of the season.
  • Florida produced 10 hits in today’s game and it marks the 11th time this season the Gators have tallied 10 or more hits in a game.
Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.