Florida preparing for a tough Kentucky team

The No. 3 ranked Florida Gators (37-4, 8-4) softball team will look to continue its hot run of things this weekend as they welcome in the Kentucky Wildcats (27-11, 4-8) for an SEC series.

This weekend’s series will be played Saturday-Monday as apart of the odd SEC Network schedule, but nonetheless, the Gators are coming in sizzling hot.

Florida needs another good weekend, as the Gators are still two games back of Auburn for first place in the SEC, but Florida has gained ground on the Tigers during its four game winning streak.

How the teams have fared in conference play:

Florida comes with an 8-4 record after sweeping South Carolina last weekend but Kentucky is a team that will be tough to sweep as the Wildcats took 2 out of 3 against a LSU team that took 2 games from Florida in Gainesville.

Kentucky comes into the series with a 4-8 record after losing 2 out of 3 against Alabama last weekend in Lexington. Kentucky is a team that is much better than their record shows.

In the batter’s box:

Florida has improved in the batter’s box as of late and now hitting .315 on the year with 57 home runs after having a big power weekend last weekend. The Gators have impressive on base percentage of .462 that continues to produce several runs for Florida.

Kentucky enters the series with a .275 batting average on the year and have hit just 34 home runs but have only walked 108 times while striking out 190 times. Over the last few weeks Kentucky has improved in a lot of areas offensively but are still hitting for a low average.

In the circle:

Florida’s three man rotation has a team ERA of 1.55 and that continues to get better as the Gators have now thrown 26 complete games and being led by Lauren Haeger who is starting to dominate hitters again.

Kentucky comes in with a 2.28 ERA and have used a four man rotation this year and have 3 pitchers who have pitched in 15 plus games this year. The Wildcats however have only allowed 14 home runs this year so that will be a stat to watch this weekend.

Players to watch:

For Florida:

Lauren Haeger is back and is now 17-0 in the circle with a 1.17 ERA and has thrown 11 complete games but the big key is that her bat is back. Haeger is now hitting .339 with a team leading 12 home runs and 44 RBI’s.

Kelsey Stewart is hitting .428 overall but is hitting well over .500 in SEC play but she now has six triples and an impressive .494 on base percentage.

For Kentucky:

Pitcher Kelsey Nunley comes in with an 11-7 record and a 1.87 ERA and has appeared in 25 games and nine of those she has gone the distance.

Christian Stokes is hitting a team best .358 and is leading the team with a .569 on slugging percentage and has six home runs this year.

This weekend has the odd schedule of Saturday-Monday but the Gators are hoping to continue their hot streak against a good Wildcats team. Here’s how the schedule looks like for the weekend.

Saturday at 4:00 P.M. on ESPN3
Sunday at 3:00 P.M. on ESPN3
Monday at 7:00 P.M. on SEC Network

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.