Friday afternoon’s NCAA Regional matchup between Florida and Bethune-Cookman was a tale of two pitchers as Gators’ ace Stephanie Brombacher shut down the Wildcats in UF’s 8-0 victory.
The Gators’ pitcher gave up only three hits and a walk in 69 pitches to win her first complete game since March 5.
“It felt great,” Brombacher said. “Our defense has been awesome and when they’re that good, it’s really easy to throw strikes knowing they are going to make plays.”
While it was obvious early that Brombacher was on, it was equally obvious that her counterpart Allison Garcia was not. Garcia struggled early to find her command, leaving balls up in the zone for the Gators to feast on.
“My plan was to just keep throwing them off, and unfortunately my balls weren’t going where I wanted them to today,” Garcia said after giving up eight runs on nine hits while walking four.
“She really didn’t have her change-up,” said Chris Cochran, coach for Bethune-Cookman. “But (the Gators) have a lot to do with that because they are great hitters. They just don’t allow you to put balls over the plate.”
Sophomore Brittany Schutte opened up the scorebook for the Gators with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first. Catcher Tiffany DeFelice took a walk and shortstop Cheyenne Coyle hit a double down the right field line to increase Florida’s lead to four.
As Brombacher put zero after zero on the board, B-CU just couldn’t get started as the Univ. of Fla. buried them with two runs in the third, and two more in the fifth inning to end the game early via the run rule.
Coach Walton said that despite Brombacher’s great performance she could’ve been even better.
“She can probably stretch the zone in a couple of instances where they got some good hits in good counts in her favor,” he said. “I know she pitched well, but I know she can pitch better for sure, too.”
The Gators play UCLA at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. UCLA beat Jacksonville University earlier in the day by a score of 2-0 after being held scoreless until the sixth inning.
“It’s just another game at regionals,” Brombacher said. “We got to win to move on. It’s just another game.”
Saturday’s Regional Schedule
If the Gators win, they will advance to Sunday’s potential final game against the last team standing on Saturday. Jacksonville and Bethune-Cookman will play at 3:30 p.m., with their seasons on the line, and the winner will face the loser between UF and UCLA at 6 p.m.
Chris Raleigh is the beat reporter for GatorCountry.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisRaleighGC.