Special report on the Florida Gators softball team:
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cassidy McLellan, Madison Walker and Jocelyn Erickson homered in No. 5/8 Florida’s 10-2 six-inning win over Kentucky on Friday afternoon at John Cropp Stadium.
Four different Gators had multi-hit games in the series opener, Taylor Shumaker, Townsen Thomas, McLellan and Gabi Comia, while McLellan drove a team-high four RBIs.
Keagan Rothrock (15-1) picked up her fourth Southeastern Conference win through the first four conference games of the season, tossing her eighth complete-game of her senior season.
The Gators (27-1, 4-0 SEC) have now won five straight over the Wildcats (19-7, 1-3 SEC) going back to the 2024 season.
NOTABLES:
* Keagan Rothrock is 6-0 over Florida’s last six games. She’s the first Florida pitcher to earn the win in six consecutive games since Lauren Haegar in 2014, who earned seven-straight wins from May 16-31, 2015. That span went from NCAA Regionals to the third game of the Women’s College World Series
* The last time a pitcher earned six wins in six consecutive games during the regular season was Hannah Rogers during the 2011 season
* Taylor Shumaker recorded her 16th multi-hit game of the season and eighth in the last 10 games. She has recorded multi-hit outings in over 57% (16-of-28) of games this season
* Cassidy McLellan’s home run was her fifth of the season and first since Feb. 26 vs. East Texas A&M in Fullerton, Calif.
* It is was her first SEC home run of her career
* Three of her five home runs have been two-run home runs
* Townsen Thomas set a new career-high of two doubles
* Madison Walker hit her fifth home run as a Gator, a solo home run in the fifth
* With a three-run home run in the sixth, Jocelyn Erickson has now hit a team-best 14 home runs this season, just one shy of matching her single-season career high
* With 44 home runs in her Florida career, Erickson moved into sole possession of seventh-most home runs in program history
* Erickson had three RBI against the Wildcats, her 14th multi-RBI game
* With a single up the middle in the top of the sixth, Kenleigh Cahalan extended her on-base streak to 28 games. She’s reached base in every game of her senior season
* Walker scored Cahalan with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth, her first sacrifice fly as a Gator and the fourth of her career
* Three different Florida players are on double-digit hit streaks: Erickson (12), Thomas (12) and Shumaker (10)
* The Gators have hit at least one home in 26 of 28 games this season and have slugged multiple home runs in 18 games
UP NEXT:
Florida will look to pick up the series win over the Wildcats on Saturday at 12 p.m. on the SEC Network.