Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium had never seen a show quite like the one the third-ranked Florida Gators put on Friday night.
Just hours after Marshall set a stadium record with four home runs in a win over East Carolina, Coach Tim Walton’s Gators (6-1) put on a home run fireworks show for the ages with a team-record six home runs, all solo shots, breaking the mark of five set in 2003 against Kentucky.
Led by Megan Bush’s three home runs on the night, the Gators cruised to a 7-0 victory over Campbell in their first game of the Lipton Invitational, followed by a six-inning 12-4 win over Kansas in the night cap. The Gators will face Marshall at 12:15 p.m. and East Carolina at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in day two of the Lipton Invitational.
Junior Megan Bush started the Florida home run derby in the top of the fourth with a bomb to deep center. Two batters later sophomore Michelle Moultrie pulled her third career home run to right field to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
Coming into the weekend, Bush had only logged one hit on the season. She could not have picked a better way to break out of her slump.
“I’ve had a slow start,” Bush said. “So it was good to come out with something big that could help the team.”
Of course Bush, who went 4-5 on the night, was just getting started. She stepped up to the plate again two innings later to electrify the team, crushing a shot off the tree behind left field. It was the second time in her career she had a two-homer game. The last came against Arizona State on Feb. 19 of last year, when she hit two in the same inning.
Bush said she had never seen anything like Friday’s barrage of deep balls before, but there was no doubt that the Gators got more pumped with each one that flew over the wall.
“No, (I’ve never seen anything like it),” Bush said. “It was awesome. We got to work together and feed off each other. It was nice to see each other come together finally and put a bunch of runs together on the board.”
Junior Tiffany DeFelice kept the ball rolling with Florida’s first back-to-back home runs since a March 28 game against Alabama last year. The way the balls were flying out of the park, it was only a matter of time that a freshman also got into the act. Kelsey Horton pinch hit for fellow freshman Brittany Walker a few batters later and hit her first career home run.
Junior Kelsey Bruder, who was 2-4 in the game, capped off the victory and the record-breaking performance with her home run in the seventh inning.
The longball parade was more than enough for junior Stephanie Brombacher (4-1) and freshman Erin Schuppert to put together Florida’s first shutout of the season.
“No, I have never seen anything like that,” Schuppert said of the record. “As a pitcher, you can’t ask for anything more. All you have to do is keep them in the game, and the hitters are going to do their job for sure. They’re fantastic.”
Brombacher held the Fighting Camels to two hits and two walks while striking out 11 in five innings of work. Schuppert came in to seal the deal with four strikeouts and only one hit in the final two innings.
But Schuppert would not be done for the night, as Walton was forced to call on her in the third inning of the second game to settle things down for the Gators against Kansas.
Although Schuppert didn’t expect to be called upon again, she was certainly up to the task.
“I don’t really know what to expect,” Schuppert said. “I show up expecting—so to speak—to pitch in every game, whenever I’m needed. I try to be ready for anything.”
Freshman Ensley Gammel got the start for the Gators, but she quickly dug herself into some trouble with control issues, allowing runs off a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk in the top of the second, leaving the Gators knotted at two with the Jayhawks. Gammel gave up two hits and four walks in her two innings of work.
Walton said that he will continue to give Gammel work to get her comfortable. He said Gammel had a better spring than Schuppert leading up to the regular season, but expects Schuppert to get some starts in the near future, possibly this weekend.
“It’s a long season,” Walton said. “You can’t do it with one pitcher. Erin’s done a really good job picking Ensley up in every one of her starts. I’ve gotta find a way to get those two through a complete game so I can get Stephanie enough time so she doesn’t have to throw every game.”
In four innings of work Schuppert (1-0) surrendered her first two runs of the season, but struck out seven while giving up four hits and three walks.
“There were a couple of bumps in the second game,” Schuppert said. “But I think just as I get a little more comfortable those will go away.”
This time Florida poured runs on by manufacturing them the old-fashioned way. The Gators scored in every inning, and other than Bush’s third home run of the night all came by way of small-ball.
Just one game after hitting her first home run of the season, Moultrie, dropped down two bunts for base hits in the second game, both critical to big innings.
“If she can drop a bunt down, drop a bunt down, drop a bunt down, then hit a home run, you can’t stop her,” Walton said. “You watch her hit a ball 250 feet and the next minute she’s hitting a ball two and a half feet and beats it out.”
While Moultrie kept things moving with her speed, Aja Paculba continually stepped up and knocked runs home. Similar to Bush, Paculba came into the weekend on a slow start to the season, only having two hits coming into the night cap. Staying true to the theme, Paculba also broke out in a huge way, going 4-4 with 5 RBI in the second game.
Freshmen Brittany Walker and Brittany Schutte also had solid games, both going 2-2 with an RBI.
Needless to say, Walton was pleased that all of his hitters are starting to get into the swing of things.
“They all had quality days today,” Walton said. “That’s what it’s all about. This lineup is really good. If we get all one through nine plugging, we’re going to score a lot of runs.”
Once the Gators start clicking on all cylinders, opponents should be wary. Florida might string together a lot of performances like Friday’s in the future.