GatorCountry.com brings you this week’s Florida Gators softball review as the Gators won four games last week. In this recap we will break down the past week’s games, plus name a player of the week.
The Gators won a mid week game against Winthrop on Wednesday, which was the 200th win for this senior class and places them eighth on the all-time Florida list.
Florida continued Wednesday’s momentum into a SEC series sweep against the visiting No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers
Florida has now outscored its opponents this year by a score of 208-28 and the Gators are now 30-1 on the year. The 30-1 start is tied for the best start in school history with the 2011 team.
Results
- Florida defeated Winthrop 9-0 – winning pitcher Kelly Barnhill
- Florida defeated No. 16 Tennessee 5-0 – winning pitcher Aleshia Ocasio
- Florida defeated No. 16 Tennessee 4-2- winning pitcher Kelly Barnhill
- Florida defeated No. 16 Tennessee 3-0 – winning pitcher Delanie Gourley
Offensive leaders
Sophomore Kayli Kvistad continued to stay hot at the plate with five hits over the four games this past week. Kvistad drove in four runs and moved up to number three in the batting order. Kvistad now leads the team with a .435 batting average this season.
Senior Kelsey Stewart has been struggling but this weekend she returned to her old form. Stewart went 8-13 at the plate and scored six runs this weekend and stole four bases this past weekend.
Sophomore Nicole DeWitt has been struggling a little bit since dropping in the batting order but she responded by going 5-9 at the plate this past week. DeWitt scored three runs as well from her 7th spot in the order.
Pitching
Coach Tim Walton and Florida Gators softball pitching coach Jennifer Rocha threw all three of the Gators pitchers again this past weekend. The three headed-monster of a rotation now all have 10 wins this year.
Junior Delanie Gourley was lights out on Sunday against Tennessee as she pitched seven scoreless innings to secure the sweep for the Gators. Gourley only gave up one walk while striking out eight. On the year Gourley is 10-0 with a 0.86 ERA.
Sophomore Aleshia Ocasio picked up a win on Friday night against Tennessee and followed that with a two inning save on Saturday. In total Ocasio pitched nine innings and allowed zero runs this weekend. Ocasio now sports a 0.41 ERA this year, while going 10-1 and picking up three saves.
Freshman Kelly Barnhill set the school record with 18 strikeouts against Winthrop on Wednesday night. Barnhill followed that up by picking up a win against Tennessee, while allowing just two runs. Barnhill now sports a 10-0 record and a 1.40 ERA.
Player of the week
Kelly Barnhill has to be the player of the week this week as she set the school record for strikeouts in a game with 18 on Wednesday night. Barnhill has really settled down and allowed just four walks over 12 innings of work. Barnhill struck out 27 batters over the two outings.
This week’s schedule
Florida doesn’t play a mid week game this week as they wait to head to Baton Rouge for a rare three games over a two day span.
- Friday at LSU at 5 P.M
- Friday at LSU at 7 P.M
- Saturday at LSU at 12 P.M.