Nelson energized against Michigan

By BRAD GOLDBACH
She may not be the Energizer Bunny, but you couldn’t tell by looking at Stacey Nelson before Florida’s matchup with No. 6 Michigan, the No. 2 Gators’ fourth ranked softball opponent in a week.

“I had an abnormal amount of energy before the game today,” Nelson said. “So I’m sure I probably could’ve pitched four games. I don’t know where it came from either.”

The energy and Nelson’s pitching helped key Florida’s 4-0 victory over Michigan Wednesday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Nelson struck out nine batters, while only allowing three hits and four walks in seven innings of work.

Nelson’s excitement was capped off with an exclamation point when sophomore right fielder Kelsey Bruder gunned down Michigan’s Teddi Ewing at the plate to end the sixth inning and preserve the shutout.

“That was awesome,” Nelson said. “I tried to tell myself before that batter came up, ‘You know, don’t let ‘em score.’ But I let ‘em get a hit, so when a teammate can pick you up like that it really feels good as a pitcher.”

Florida’s hitters set the tone for Nelson by jumping out to an early lead with two runs in each of the first two innings. Tiffany DeFelice drew first blood with her two-out single that knocked in two runs in the bottom of the first inning. The sophomore went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI. The hit helped DeFelice break out of her slump, as she came into the game batting only .167 on the season with 1 RBI.

“It felt good because I’ve been struggling a little bit lately,” DeFelice said. “So it felt kind of good to get my job done. It was nice.”

Coach Tim Walton wasn’t shy about his reason for continuing to show confidence in DeFelice by putting her back into the lineup, as he thinks it’s only a matter of time before DeFelice shows the force she can be at the plate.

“If we’re going to win a championship it’s going to be with Tiffany DeFelice in the five-hole,” Walton said. “I think that’s important for me to maintain that consistency. I thought she had three great at-bats tonight. She’s such a great hitter that I really want to get her going.”

DeFelice’s hit helped get the rest of Florida’s bats going as the Gators came up in the second and scored two more runs off senior Kim Waleszonia’s two-run single. Waleszonia was 1-for-2 with 2 RBI on the day.

The early onslaught knocked out Michigan ace Nikki Nemitz in the second inning. Nemitz gave up four earned runs off five hits while facing only nine batters in 1.1 innings of work.

“It gives us a lot of confidence (knocking the starting pitcher out of the game), especially when you knock out a pitcher of that caliber,” Walton said. “Unfortunately for us, you knock her out and you got her replaced with another pitcher of that caliber.”

Michigan proved to have two quality starters just like the Gators, as Jordan Taylor allowed only two hits the rest of the way, while striking out six after replacing Nemitz.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome the energetic Nelson, who would not let the Wolverines get on to the scoreboard, as the Gators held on to a victory that was tougher than the score indicated.

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Walton said. “Sometimes you have good athletes that make it look easy, but I think overall we had to fight for everything we got. I thought we wasted a couple of opportunities, but overall I think we came out and did exactly what we game-planned to do: come out, swing early in the count and do a good job getting a little bit more aggressive as opposed to trying to hit with two strikes all the time.”

Nelson said she is going to try to save some of her “abnormal amount of energy” for this weekend as the Gators play six games at home in the Cox Invitational. On Friday, Florida, now 13-2, will play Pacific at 4 p.m., followed by South Florida at 6:15 p.m. On Saturday, the Gators take on Illinois at 4 p.m. and Texas Tech, whom the Gators already defeated 11-0 earlier this season, at 6:15 p.m. The tournament finishes on Sunday, with Florida playing Illinois at 12:15 p.m. and South Florida at 2:30 p.m.