Florida travels to Georgia on a winning streak

The No. 1 ranked Florida Gators (41-4, 11-4) softball team has regained its number one ranking and are on a nine-game winning streak as they travel to take on the No. 11 ranked Georgia Bulldogs (35-11, 11-7) for a SEC weekend series. Florida’s winning streak has brought them to within a game of the SEC lead, sitting just behind Auburn.

Georgia sits just three games back of the Gators and would love to pull even with them but Florida has revenge on their mind after the Bulldogs knocked them out of the SEC Tournament a year ago.

 

How the teams have fared in conference play:

Florida comes in with an 11-4 record after back-to-back sweeps over South Carolina and Kentucky. The Gators look to continue that momentum on the road this weekend.

Georgia comes in with an 11-7 record after sweeping Ole Miss, but haven’t hosted the Gators for a series since 2012 so this is sure to be a good weekend of ball.

 

In the batter’s box:

Florida enters the series with a .309 batting average after crushing the ball the last few weekends and the Gators now have 58 home runs on the year and have a team on base percentage of .455 on the year.

Georgia enters the series with a .357 batting average, have hit 41 home runs and have an on base percentage of .434 on the year but have struck out 154 times this year.

 

In the circle:

Florida’s three woman rotation has a team ERA of 1.48 after another good week of pitching that saw Lauren Haeger get named Co-SEC pitcher of the week. The Gators have now thrown 27 complete games and struck out 348 hitters in 284. 2 innings pitched.

The Bulldogs have a two woman rotation, for the most part, and have a team ERA of 1.84 on the year and have 25 complete games but Georgia has walked 79 hitters in 289 innings pitched.

 

Players to watch:

For Florida:

All eyes will be on Lauren Haeger this weekend as she tries to break the Florida and SEC home run record but she’s also having a nice year in the circle and is 19-0 with a 1.03 ERA and 13 complete games.

Kelsey Stewart is crushing the ball at the plate and is now hitting .438 on the year with 7 triples and on base percentage of .497 on the year.

For Georgia:  

If Georgia is going to win they must win behind Chelsea Wilkinson in the circle as she is 21-7 on the year with a 1.85 ERA and has thrown 6 shutouts and completed 18 games so far.

Cortni Emanuel is hitting .446 this year with an on base percentage of .469 and she has 68 total bases this year.

Georgia gets its power from Alex Hugo who has 15 home runs and 58 RBI’s this year while hitting .402 on the year.

 

This weekend should be a good weekend for the Gators on the diamond so be sure to follow along with us all weekend long. Here’s how the schedule looks like for the weekend.

Friday at 6:00 P.M. on ESPN3

Saturday at 4:00 P.M. on ESPN2

Saturday at 1:00 P.M. on ESPNU

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.