Recapping the Florida Gators softball clinching weekend series

GatorCountry.com brings you this week’s Florida Gators softball review as the Gators swept another SEC weekend series in route to winning the SEC championship. It was a special weekend as Tim Walton and the Gators honored the five seniors on Senior Day on Saturday.

The Gators not only swept the Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend but they also swept the No. 5 ranked Florida State Seminoles in two games this past week.

Florida finished the regular season with a 52-4 record and won the SEC by three games over the Kentucky Wildcats. Florida will also be the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament this coming week.

Results:

  • #1 Florida defeated #5 Florida State 1-0 – winning pitcher Aleshia Ocasio
  • #1 Florida defeated #5 Florida State 7-1- winning pitcher Delanie Gourley
  • #1 Florida defeated Arkansas 9-0- winning pitcher Aleshia Ocasio
  • #1 Florida defeated Arkansas 5-0- winning pitcher Delanie Gourley
  • #1 Florida defeated Arkansas 8-0 – winning pitcher Kelly Barnhill

 

Offensive leaders:

Senior Kirsti Merritt celebrated her senior weekend in a big way as she hit two home runs and drove in five runs against Arkansas. Merritt had five hits and scored three runs this past week in total while playing a solid center field.

Senior Taylore Fuller who has been struggling big time lately had a solid week last week including hitting two home runs. Fuller had three hits and five RBI’s including hitting a walk-off three home-run on Friday night in a game that clinched the SEC title.

Sophomore Kayli Kvistad continues to drive in runs from her three spot in the batting order and this past week she drove in four runs. Kvistad only had five hits but they were key hits for the Gators.

Pitching:

Tim Walton and Florida Gators softball pitching coach Jennifer Rocha now have three pitchers who have all won 15 games and struck out 100 batters this year.

Sophomore Aleshia Ocasio stole the show this week and came from not only the circle but also in the batters box where she hit a walk-off home run against Florida State. Ocasio finished the week with two wins that brings her record to 19-1 on the year. Ocasio didn’t allow a run over twelve innings pitched while striking out 11.

Junior Delanie Gourley continued her dominating work this year as she picked up two more wins to run her record to 18-3 on the year. Gourley pitched 14 innings and only allowed one earned run while striking out 26 batters. Gourley set a career high with 16 strikeouts against Arkansas last Saturday.

Freshman Kelly Barnhill bounced back from a rough last few outings by tossing her first career no-hitter against Arkansas. Barnhill went five innings and struck out 10 while only walking one hitter. Barnhill is now 15-0 on the year.

Player of the week:

Aleshia Ocasio has to be the player of the week after her great week that all started against Florida State on Wednesday. Ocasio who pitched the rest of the suspended game and held the Noles scoreless also hit the game winning walk-off home run for the Gators. Ocasio is also 19-1 in the circle, which is a team high in wins.

This week’s schedule:

Florida heads to the SEC tournament at Mississippi State as the number one seed where they will open up play on Thursday at 4:00. Florida will play the winner of the Georgia/Ole Miss game that takes place on Wednesday afternoon.

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.