Florida kept its Southeastern Conference softball title hopes alive Saturday by sweeping a Saturday afternoon doubleheader from South Carolina, 20-0 and 6-1, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Coach Tim Walton’s Gators (41-7, 19-4 SEC) need to beat South Carolina Sunday and hope that Mississippi State can pull off an upset of Alabama (44-9, 22-4 SEC) in Starkville. The Crimson Tide is on a 20-game winning streak, but stranger things have happened.
Sunday’s home finale also will be the last home appearance by seniors Francesca Enea and Corrie Brooks. Enea started the celebration early by hitting her 19th home run of the season, breaking her year-old team record, and the 60th home run of her career, tying her for the all-time lead in the SEC. Enea finished the game with five RBI, while junior Tiffany DeFelice went 3-for-3 with four RBI all coming on her first career grand slam.
The Gators had a team-record 21 hits in the opener with four players – DeFelice, Michelle Moultrie, Megan Bush and Corrie Brooks – each having three hits. Aja Paculba and Kelsey Horton each had two hits.
Junior Stephanie Brombacher and freshman Erin Schuppert combined for their second five-inning no-hitter this week in the opener – they no-hit North Florida 22-0 on Wednesday. Starter Brombacher (27-5) went the first innings, striking out three and walking two. Schuppert finished up, striking out one in two innings.
Ashley Chastain (4-17) was the losing pitcher in the opener for South Carolina (11-39, 1-26 SEC East), allowing 12 runs on 11 hits and four walks. The Gators weren’t any kinder to reliever Kierstyn White, who surrendered eight runs (all unearned) on 10 hits.
In the second game, freshman Ensley Gammel (13-2) allowed one run on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. The loss in the second game went to April Borchardt (4-5) who surrendered six runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks in 5.1 innings.
Florida scored seven runs in the first inning of the opener, with three of them coming on Enea’s blast out in center. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for DeFelice, who hit the Gators’ ninth grand-slam home run of the season to make it 7-0.
The Gators added five runs in the second inning. The big blow came off the bat of junior Kelsey Bruder, who hit her 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot.
The Gators increased their lead to 17-0 with five more runs in the third inning off White. Paculba had an RBI single and Bush doubled in two runs.
The Gators made it 20-0 with three runs on six hits and a South Carolina error. Brittany Walker, Brittany Schutte and Samantha Holle had RBI singles, and it was Holle’s single that broke Florida’s previous single-game high for hits. Florida had 20 hits against Florida A&M on April 5, 1998.
South Carolina rebounded in the second game to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Kandyce Redondo got South Carolina’s first hit of the day, stole second and was driven home by Adele Voight.
It remained 1-0 until the fifth when Florida scored three runs. Bruder led off with a single and DeFelice followed with a single of her own. Brooks then laid down a bunt to advance both runners, but a throwing error allowed the two runners to score. Brooks later scored on a sacrifice fly by Paculba for a 3-1 lead.
Florida iced the game with three more runs in the sixth. Bruder singled home a run, pinch-runner Lauren Heil stole home and Brooks singled home Bruder for the 6-1 final.
Florida and South Carolina meet today at noon to end the regular season. Prior to the contest, Brooks and Enea will be honored. The game will be broadcast by Sun Sports.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
Eastern Division Conference Overall
(Rank) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
(5T) Florida 19-4 .826 41-7 .854
(9) Georgia 18-8 .692 41-10 .804
(18) Tennessee 16-8 .667 40-12 .769
Kentucky 13-14 .481 31-23 .574
South Carolina 1-26 .037 11-39 .220
Western Division Conference Overall
(Rank) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
(3T) Alabama 22-4 .846 44-9 .830
(14) Louisiana State 20-7 .741 42-12 .778
Auburn 10-17 .370 29-23 .558
Arkansas 10-17.370 28-27 .509
Mississippi 7-19 .269 26-27 .491
Mississippi State 7-19 .269 26-28 .481
(Rank) in this week’s GatorCountry.com Top 25 poll
RESULTS
SATURDAY / May 8
Florida 20, South Carolina 0 (1st game)
Florida 6, South Carolina 1 (2nd game)
Tennessee 6, Louisiana State 5 (1st game)
Louisiana State 3, Tennessee 0 (2nd game)
Kentucky 2, Mississippi 0 (1st game)
Kentucky 4, Mississippi 2 (2nd game)
Auburn 4, Arkansas 3 (1st game)
Auburn 3, Arkansas 2 (2nd game)
Alabama 10, Mississippi State 1 (1st game)
Alabama 8, Mississippi State 2 (2nd game)
SUNDAY / May 9
South Carolina at Florida, 12 p.m.
Georgia at Texas, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Louisiana State at Tennessee, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
Kentucky at Mississippi, 2 p.m.
Arkansas at Auburn, 2 p.m.
Alabama at Mississippi State, 2 p.m.
MONDAY / May 10
Georgia at Texas, 7 p.m.