Special report on the Florida Gators softball team:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida softball team picked up three victories on the day after defeating Hampton, 7-0, and Jacksonville twice, 2-1 & 4-0. The Gators (32-4) resumed a halted game from yesterday with the Dolphins before competing in the finale full game of the day.
Florida vs. Hampton | W, 7-0
Natalie Lugo received her first collegiate start and pitched a gem against Hampton. The West Covina, Calif. native scattered three hits in a complete-game shutout with a season-high 11 strikeouts and no walks.
The Gators scored in the first inning and took a 1-0 lead over the Lady Pirates when freshman Hannah Adams drove home Amanda Lorenz with an RBI double to left center field. Lorenz reached to leadoff the game with a four-pitch walk.
Nicole DeWitt extended Florida’s lead out to 2-0 after driving a base hit through the right side of the Hampton infield. Sophia Reynoso scored on the play from second after both her and Lorenz drew back-to-back walks.
Florida tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth to go ahead 4-0. Jaimie Hoover led off the frame with a single and Reynoso knocked a single to left with one out to put runners on first and second. Back-to-Back errors by Morgan Crawford at second allowed the Gators to load the bases and eventually score two runs before the end of the inning.
Reynoso drove in a pair of runs in the top of the fifth frame to give the Gators a 6-0 lead over the Lady Pirates. UF loaded the bases for Reynoso with a singles from Jordan Roberts and Hoover, then Alex Voss drew a full-count walk.
Kvistad pushed across Adams for the final run of the game to bring the score to 7-0 on her RBI single down the right field line.
Adams, Hoover and Reynoso each tallied two hits in the effort.
Florida vs. Jacksonville | Resumed Game | W, 2-1
Jacksonville jumped on the scoreboard first with a solo home run in the third inning. Serena Quinata sent the 3-2 pitch from starter Kelly Barnhill over the wall in left field for a 1-0 lead.
The Gators responded in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ocasio posted her second base hit of the game to get on base and was advanced into scoring position after Adams grounded out to third base.
Wheaton fell behind 0-2 in the count to Jacksonville’s Alyssa Bilodeau before turning on the next pitch for an RBI single to left field that tied the score to 1-1.
The game was halted at 1:29 p.m. Friday, March 30, due to significant rainfall in the top of the fifth inning with one out and was resumed Saturday, March 31, at 2:35 p.m.
Ocasio entered the circle to finish the game for the Gators. She induced a pair of groundouts to finish the top of the fifth inning and keep the score tied 1-1.
Florida scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth after Lorenz doubled to lead off the inning. Kvistad drove home Lorenz with an RBI single through the left side to give Florida a 2-1 lead.
The Dolphins only managed to pick up one hit for the remainder of the contest.
Florida vs. Jacksonville | W, 4-0
The Gators rallied with two outs in the bottom of the first inning during the final game of the day against the Dolphins. DeWitt doubled to right field and Kvistad was hit by the pitch from Haley Holloway to put runners on first and second for Wheaton. Wheaton drove home DeWitt on an RBI single to left field and Matthews followed up with a base hit that scored Kvistad.
Florida pushed across a run in the fourth after Voss singled to center field but Allie McCourt’s throwing attempt to cut off Reynoso went high which allowed her to score easily for the third run.
An obstruction call in the fifth on the Dolphin’s third baseman allowed the Gators to plate their final run of the game. Adams rounded third and was clipped by Jordan Daniels on her way home, which allowed Florida to go ahead 4-0.
Kelly Barnhill was brilliant in the circle in the afternoon finale as limited the Jacksonville to just one hit en route to her eighth complete-game shutout of the season. Barnhill tallied 13 strikeouts and issued only one walk in the effort.
Walton’s Words
On getting three decisions in one afternoon…
“It was an odd set of circumstances, but it was something that could happen in a regional or something that could happen a world series. Now we have experience and I thought we did a good job managing our pitching staff. We were able to switch to Aleshia (Ocasio) and then switch back to Kelly in the second game. I really like the way Kelly looked against Jacksonville both yesterday and today. She gave up the home run, but she was still missing their bats pretty good.”
On Natalie Lugo’s first career start…
“Happy for Natalie to be able to go in and regroup herself. She is improving, that is the reason you are seeing her getting the ball. She is making the strides that you want to see.”
On the offense this weekend…
“We were okay offensively, we had a big day yesterday, but we were just okay. I am not taking anything away from our opponents, but we have some improvements to make. Some days we look great and others we just look average – we need to work on our overall toughness between at-bats, which is hard.”
From the Players
Aleshia Ocasio
On the offense today…
“We had some really good at-bats today, including some big pinch hits off the bench, which is always really helpful. We did our job on offense, defense and in the circle.”
Sophia Reynoso
On keeping the energy level high…
“We held it together with the weather this weekend. It’s hard to keep the energy up with that type of weather, but we did. We bounced back and played well against both JU and Hampton today.”
Notable Notes
Florida remains undefeated against Hampton (4-0) and Jacksonville (21-0).
The Gators tallied 10 or more strikeouts in the final three games of the weekend and have now achieved the feat 14 times on the season.
vs. Hampton – 11 strikeouts
vs. Jacksonville – 11 strikeouts
vs. Jacksonville – 13 strikeouts
Natalie Lugo received her first collegiate start against Hampton and tallied 11 strikeouts.
It’s the first time that Lugo has registered 10 or more strikeouts in a game.
She also picked up her first career victory.
Kelly Barnhill picked up her eighth complete-game shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory over Jacksonville.
It’s the ninth time this season she has hurled 10 or more strikeouts in a game.
Amanda Lorenz extended her reached base safely streak to all 36 games played this season.
Over her career, she has reached base safely in 159 out of 166 games played.
Hannah Adams has reached base safely in the last 34-straight games.
Kayli Kvistad is currently riding a five game hitting streak.
Earlier this year she put together hitting streak over six games.