FULLERTON, Calif. – Back among her friends in Southern California, Francesca Enea provided a power show as the third-ranked Florida softball team picked up its second victory in the DeMarini Invitational Saturday afternoon.
The senior from Woodland Hills, Calif., hit a pair of home runs in three trips to the plate, one of them a grand slam, and drove in half of Florida’s runs in the Gators’ 12-0 victory over tournament host Cal State Fullerton in five innings.
Florida, which went 1-1 Friday with a 12-3 victory over Pacific and a 2-0 loss to No. 10 Stanford, was scheduled to play Loyola Marymount at 10 p.m. Saturday night in a weather-delayed contest. The game eventually was postponed to Sunday afternoon following Florida’s game with UC Davis.
The Gators (14-2) scored nine of their 12 runs with two outs. Enea’s home runs – her eighth and ninth this season – extended her personal consecutive-game hitting streak to 10 games. Enea is now batting .422 (19 of 45) with a team-high 30 RBI and has a slugging percentage of 1.089. Florida’s all-time leader in home runs, Enea now has 50, which is third all-time in the SEC record books.
Sophomore centerfielder Michelle Moultrie raised her team-high season batting average to .450 by going 3-for-3 with three singles and a walk, scoring three runs and knocking in one.
Junior Stephanie Brombacher (11-2) recorded the win, allowing just one hit in four innings, striking out four and walking three. Katey Laben (1-3) suffered the loss for the Titans (3-16), allowing eight hits, 11 runs and nine walks while striking out one.
With two outs in the first inning, Enea and junior Kelsey Bruder of nearby Corona, Calif., walked and freshman Brittany Schutte, who hails from Fountain Valley, Calif., singled to right to load the bases. Junior Tiffany DeFelice hit a hot grounder to short where Chloe Valenzuela flipped too late to third to get Bruder, allowing Enea to score. Senior Corrie Brooks then walked home another run to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
After Brombacher recorded two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 bottom of the first, the Gators got another two runs with two outs. Moultrie walked and Enea followed with her eighth homer of the season for a 4-0 lead.
In the third inning, Florida increased its lead to 9-0, scoring all five runs with two outs. Junior Megan Bush of nearby Anaheim Hills, Calif., walked, freshman Brittany Walker singled to left and Amy Paculba walked to load the bases. After Moultrie singled home Bush, Enea launched her second grand slam of the tournament, her third this season and eighth of her career. In doing so, Enea joined DeFelice, Bush and Bruder as Gators who have hit two home runs in a game this season.
Florida scored three more runs in the fifth. Freshman Kelsey Horton came in to pinch hit and walked. Paculba singled to right, and after a pitching change, Moultrie singled up the middle to load the bases. After Enea grounded into a forceout, Bruder grounded out to short, scoring Paculba, and Schutte followed with a hard hit ball to short that got past Valenzuela that scored Moultrie and Enea.
Freshman Erin Schuppert pitched the fifth inning, allowing a double but ending the game with a strikeout.