For the Florida Gators softball team, last weekend’s USF Under Armour Showcase was bittersweet. Playing five games in three days, the Gators won four games by an astonishing total of 43 runs.
However, it was a Saturday defeat at the hands of the No. 17 Nebraska Cornhuskers that gave the Gators their first loss of the season and dropped them from the top of the college softball rankings to No. 3.
After a Sunday matinee victory over the host USF Bulls and two days off, the Gators (25-1) return home to the Univ. of Fla. on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Mississippi State U. The doubleheader marks Florida’s first home SEC matchup of the season.
The Bulldogs come into Wednesday’s doubleheader with a record of 12-12 and are winless in their only two road games of the season. Mississippi State is 2-0 in SEC play having swept a two-game series against South Carolina last week.
Wednesday’s games against Florida end a six-game spring break road trip for the Bulldogs that included a weekend trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the SEC/ACC Challenge. The Bulldogs are led offensively by senior second baseman Ali Bainbridge who comes into Gainesville with a .361 average, and is tied with Gator second baseman Aja Paculba for the most doubles in the SEC at nine.
Maybe the biggest story for the Gators is Stephanie Brombacher, their star pitcher who is 14-0 on the season with a 0.67 ERA. Brombacher left Sunday’s USF game with an undisclosed injury. The team has said that there is no diagnosis, and that head coach Tim Walton is listing Brombacher as a game-time decision on Wednesday.
Regardless of whether or not Brombacher can go, Mississippi State will likely get a heavy dose of freshman phenom Hannah Rogers during the doubleheader. Rogers is 11-1 this season with a 0.57 ERA.
Offensively, the Gators will continue to be led by senior Megan Bush and junior leadoff batter Michelle Moultrie. Bush had 11 RBIs in Clearwater over the weekend, and Moultrie continues to lead the
Gators with a .477 batting average.
The Gators last meeting with the Bulldogs came during a May 1 doubleheader last season. Florida won the two games by a combined score of 17-1. Brombacher and Ensley Gammel amassed 13 strikeouts over the two games, and the Bulldogs were held to five hits on the day.
Florida has not lost to Mississippi State since April 27, 2007.
After Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Gators will head to Oxford, Miss., for a three-game weekend series against the Ole Miss Rebels. They will next return to Gainesville for a four-game homestand that includes three meetings with Georgia and a third and final game against USF for the season.
The Gators play at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on the corner of Hull and Museum roads.
Gator Country reporter Bryan Holt can be reached at BryanHolt@GatorCountry.com — You can also follow him on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/BryanHoltGC