The No. 1 ranked Florida Gators softball team will take its 27-1 (2-1 conference) record into its first home SEC series of the year this weekend. Florida rebounded nicely from its Monday loss to Auburn by defeating Winthrop 7-0 on Wednesday in preparation for this weekend’s series.
This weekend the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Gators as Florida welcomes in No. 19 Tennessee for a three game set.
Here’s the schedule for this weekend’s game and all games will be live on TV from Gainesville
- #1 Florida vs. #19 Tennessee on Friday at 7:00 P.M on ESPNU
- #1 Florida vs. #19 Tennessee on Saturday at 12:00 P.M on SEC Network
- #1 Florida vs. #19 Tennessee on Sunday at 4:00 P.M on SEC Network
That’s a look at this weekend’s games but let’s dig a little deeper into this weekend’s opponent in our scouting report. Here’s a quick scouting report on the Florida Gators softball team as well.
Scouting the Florida Gators:
The Gators have outscored their opponents 196-26 during the 27-1 start to the season. Florida enters this weekend with a .984 fielding percentage is the best in the SEC.
Florida enters the Tennessee series with the 9th best batting average in the country with .361 average. Sophomore Kayli Kvistad leads the Gators with a .472 average and now has four home runs and 29 RBI’s. Senior Kirsti Merritt has been hot as of late at the plate having hit four home runs in the last week and she’s now hitting .384 from the two hole.
The key for the Gators this weekend will be Kelsey Stewart, who is hitting just .326 at the plate, and really struggled last weekend. The Gators lineup is much better when Stewart is leading the charge.
In the circle the Gators still have the nations best ERA at 0.79 ERA this year among the three Florida pitchers.
Sophomore Aleshia Ocasio supports the nations best ERA with a 0.47 ERA and junior Delanie Gourley has the nations fourth best ERA with a 0.96 ERA this year.
Those two ladies have combined for an 18-1 record, but freshman Kelly Barnhill stole the show on Wednesday when she struck 18 hitters. The 18 hitters where a Florida program record and Barnhill has a low ERA of 1.27 while going 9-0 this year.
Scouting the Tennessee Volunteers:
Tennessee enters conference play with a 21-5 record including a perfect 3-0 at home. All of Tennessee’s losses this year have come away from Knoxville and that’s exactly what Tennessee will be trying to avoid this weekend.
The Vols enters this weekend with a SEC best 52 doubles, but support a batting average of .356 as a team. Tennessee is lead at the plate by Rainey Gaffin who has a .407 average and 21 RBI’s. Lexi Overstreet is the power hitter for Tennessee as she has seven home runs this year and leads the team with 32 RBI’s.
In the circle Tennessee has a high ERA of 2.02 this year for its four man rotation. Tennessee primarily uses a three man rotation this year. Matty Moss leads the way for Tennessee with a 1.28 ERA and a 6-1 record. Erin Gabriel has appeared in 17 games this year and has the best record for Tennessee at 11-2 this year.
Stay tuned to GatorCountry.com all weekend for updates on the Gators softball team.