The No. 1 ranked Florida Gators softball team went 3-1 last week and knocked off Central Florida on Wednesday night to start this week off on a high note.
The Gators take their 41-3 record into a big SEC weekend series against no. 20 ranked Ole Miss starting on Friday.
This weekend the Gators will look to extend their SEC lead that is just one game over Texas A&M right now.
Entering this weekend the SEC has 8 teams ranked in the top 25 with Arkansas just outside of the top 25 this weekend.
How the teams have fared in conference play:
Florida comes in with 15-2 conference record after going 2-1 against Kentucky last weekend.
Ole Miss enters this weekend with a 6-9 conference record after sweeping LSU at home last weekend.
In the batter’s box:
Junior Kayli Kvistad continues to pace the Gators at the plate and currently leads the nation with her 49 walks this year. Kvistad supports a .574 on base percentage and is hitting a cool .380 on the plate. Despite all the walks, Kvistad still has 37 RBI’s and five home runs.
Sophomore Amanda Lorenz ended her long on base streak last weekend but she’s still hitting .361 on the year with seven home runs. Lorenz has 30 RBI’s and has on base percentage of .521.
Junior Nicole DeWitt is on a hot streak right with a .325 batting average in the two spot of the line-up. DeWitt has a on base percentage of .463 and has five home runs.
In the circle:
The Gators four man pitching staff supports a 0.76 ERA on the year including the nation’s leader in that category.
Sophomore Kelly Barnhill leads the nation with 0.19 ERA and is 18-0 on the year with two saves. Barnhill has struck out 205 batters in her 110.2 innings pitched this year. Barnhill threw a no-hitter last week and only has a .118 batting average against here.
Senior Delanie Gourley has been pitching well in her on right this year with a 13-3 record on the year. Gourley has an ERA of 1.01 and has two saves under her belt.
Ole Miss scouting report
Ole Miss has been one of the best hitting teams in the country this year and enters this weekend with a .314 batting average and has hit 26 home runs on the year.
At the plate Ole Miss is led by Elantra Cox who has a .473 batting average on the year. Cox has scored 39 runs and only struck out 19 strike outs this year.
In the power department, Ashton Lampton has six home runs on the year and driven in 33 runs while hitting .283 at the plate.
In the circle, Ole Miss usually uses a three man rotation but Kaitlin Lee has been in 29 games on the year.
Lee has a 1.97 ERA on the year and is 13-6 on the year with 13 complete games and one save.
Player to watch:
For Florida: The Gators will look for the bats to get going this weekend and that all starts with Amanda Lorenz. Lorenz ended her long on base streak last weekend but will look to get going this weekend.
Here’s the schedule for this weekend’s game.
- #1 Florida vs. #20 Ole Miss on Friday at 6:00 P.M. on ESPN3
- #1 Florida vs. #20 Ole Miss on Saturday at 4:00 P.M on ESPN3
- #1 Florida vs. #20 Ole Miss on Sunday at 12:00 P.M on SEC Network