The No. 1 ranked Florida Gators softball team will take its 11-0 record on the road to Palm Spring, California for another tournament.
The Gators will participate in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic where they play five games in three days against five different opponents.
Joining Florida in California will be No. 10 UCLA, No. 8 Washington, North Carolina State, Nebraska and Utah.
Florida is one of just nine teams that are undefeated heading into the third weekend of the season.
Here’s the schedule for this weekend’s game.
#1 Florida vs. #10 UCLA on Thursday at 8:30 P.M
#1 Florida vs. North Carolina State on Thursday at 11:00 P.M
#1 Florida vs. #8 Washington on Friday at 6:00 P.M
#1 Florida vs. Nebraska on Friday at 8:30 P.M
#1 Florida vs. Utah on Saturday at 12:30 P.M
That’s a look at this weekend’s games but let’s dig a little deeper into this weekend’s opponents in our scouting report. Here’s a quick scouting report on the Florida Gators softball team as well.
Scouting the Florida Gators:
The Gators have outscored their opponents 90-4 during the current eleven game-winning streak to start the season. Florida hasn’t committed an error in 60-straight innings and have a .996 fielding percentage which is the best in the country.
Freshman Amanda Lorenz leads the Gators with a .571 batting average and has 12 RBI’s while scoring a team best 18 runs. In total four Gators hitters have at least 12 RBI’s this year including Janell Wheaton who has 13 and two home runs.
The Gators as a team is hitting .368 this year while Florida pitchers have a 0.45 ERA and opponent batting average of .146.
Junior Delanie Gourley and sophomore Aleshia Ocasio are both 4-0 this year while freshman Kelly Barnhill is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA. Gourley still has a perfect 0.00 ERA this year.
Scouting the UCLA Bruins:
UCLA heads to Palm Springs with a 7-3 record this year with two of the three losses coming against SEC opponents. LSU and Texas A&M have both defeated UCLA.
The Bruins are led at the plate by Mysha Sataraka with a .542 batting average including three home runs and 12 RBI’s. UCLA in total has three hitters hitting over .500 and as a team they’re hitting .343 this year. UCLA has hit nine home runs this year.
In the circle UCLA is led by Selina Ta’amilo who is 6-1 on the year with a 2.12 ERA. The Bruins have just a two man rotation and as a team they have a 3.55 ERA.
UCLA and Florida are knotted at 4 games in a piece in the series with the Gators winning the last time the two schools met in Gainesville. The Gators eliminated UCLA in the Gainesville Super Regional.
Scouting the North Carolina State Wolfpack:
NC State enters the tournament with a 5-4 record this year including wins over Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Maggie Hawkins leads North Carolina State at the plate with a .379 batting average and two home runs. Hawkins has a .455 on base percentage as well. Tyler Ross is the power hitter for the Wolfpack with four home runs this year and 12 RBI’s.
NC State as a team is hitting .227 and has an ERA of 4.16 including an opponent’s batting average of .284.
Courtney Mirabella leads NC State in the circle with a 3.39 ERA and a 3-2 record. The Wolfpack like UCLA uses just a two-man rotation.
Florida leads the all-time series against the Wolfpack by a 5-2 count. The Gators defeated NC. State three times last year in Gainesville.
Scouting the Washington Huskies:
Washington enters the tournament with a 9-1 record this year with its lone loss coming to Texas A&M.
Trysten Melhart is the Huskies leading hitter with a .500 average but only has two RBI’s. Julia DePonte is the power hitters for the Huskies. DePonte has 4 home runs and 18 RBI’s this year which both lead the teams.
As a team the Huskies are hitting .391 with 14 home runs and have a 3.28 team ERA and a .273 batting average against them.
Madi Schreyer and Taran Alveio are both 4-0 this year but Schreyer has just a 1.40 ERA this year.
Washington has a 10-5 all-time series record against Florida, but the Gators swept Washington in the 2014 Gainesville Super Regional.
Scouting the Nebraska Cornhuskers:
The Cornhuskers enter the tournament with a 8-1 record and it’s lone loss coming to NC State last weekend.
MJ Knighten leads the team with a .545 batting average and six home runs. Knighten has 16 RBI’s and is slugging 1.121 this year. As a team Nebraska is hitting .355 this year and have 15 home runs.
Cassie McClure leads Nebraska with a 4-1 record this year and a 1.81 ERA. The Cornhuskers four-man pitching staff has a 2.57 team ERA.
Florida leads the all-time series with a 2-1 margin against Nebraska. The last meeting with the 15-inning WCWS game where Florida won 9-8 over Nebraska.
Scouting the Utah Utes:
The Utes enter the California tournament with a 8-3 on the year including a loss to Kentucky this year.
Delilah Pacheco leads the team with a .429 batting average and a stolen base. Hannah Flippen is the power hitter for the Utes with four home runs this year and 10 RBI’s. As a team Utah is hitting .310 with nine home runs and has an ERA of 0.55 this year.
Utah is led by Miranda Viramontes with a 4-0 record and a 0.00 ERA this year. Utah has used five pitchers this year.
Florida leads Utah 2-1 in the all-time series. The two teams last met in 2000.
Stay tuned to GatorCountry.com all weekend for updates on the Gators softball team.