LEXINGTON, Ky. – It took nine innings to get Florida’s bats producing, but once they did, coach Tim Walton’s top-ranked Gators softball team swept another Southeastern Conference foe with a pair of shutouts.
The Gators were no-hit for eight innings by Rachel Riley in the first game but Stacey Nelson held Kentucky scoreless until Ali Gardiner’s single in the ninth inning and Kelsey Bruder’s sacrifice fly helped the Gators to a 1-0 victory that wasn’t assured until Nelson struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth.
Then sophomore Stephanie Brombacher, who has been battling a flu-like illness for two weeks, looked like her old self, striking out 12 while allowing just three hits, and junior Francesca Enea hit a pair of home runs in Florida’s 6-0 victory to become the school’s career leader in home runs with 37.
The doubleheader sweep moved Florida to 42-3 overall and improved its SEC East Division record to 20-1. The third game of the weekend series, which was supposed to start with a doubleheader Friday night that was postponed until Saturday, was cancelled. Florida returns home for a Wednesday 6 p.m. game against Central Florida and then has a weekend series at Louisiana State next Saturday (doubleheader) and Sunday (single game).
Nelson (25-3) struck out 12 batters and allowed just five hits and two walks in outdueling Riley, who struck out four and walked four in addition to Gardiner’s single. Nelson, who has now won 120 games in her Florida career, dropped her nation-leading earned-run average to 0.45. Riley (1-3) got 20 of the 27 outs on groundouts. Kentucky fell to 25-16 overall and 8-11 in the SEC East.
Tiffany DeFelice walked to start the ninth inning and Walton sent Le-Net Franklin in to run for her. Gardiner followed with a single to left, advancing Franklin to second. Ami Austin replaced Gardiner running at first and was out at second on Enea’s grounder to second that advanced Franklin to third. Bruder then hit a fly ball to center that scored Franklin, her fourth sacrifice fly of the season.
In the bottom of the ninth, Sam Demartine, Annie Rowlands and Destinee Mordecai all went down swinging against Nelson, who has been Florida’s Rock of Gibraltar during Brombacher’s illness, four times replacing her and going 3-1 in the process.
Two Sundays ago, Florida lost to Alabama 6-4, ending a 23-game winning streak, but with the two victories Saturday, the Gators are now in the midst of a 8-game winning streak, seven of the victories belonging to Nelson. The shutout was her 13th of the season and her 22nd complete game in 24 starts. In 172.2 innings, she now has 217 strikeouts and surrendered only 95 hits, 19 runs (11 earned) and 19 walks.
Brombacher also struck out a career-high 12 (for a season total of 152 in 123.1 innings) while allowing three hits and no walks in earning her 11th shutout of the season and lowering her ERA to 0.96. She is now 17-0 for the season and 37-0 during her two seasons in Gainesville.
Brombacher got all the offensive help she needed in the first inning when leadoff batter Aja Paculba walked, stole second with two outs and scored on Enea’s 13th home run of the season that gave Florida a 2-0 lead.
It became 3-0 in the second when Paculba doubled home Megan Bush, who had a leadoff single.
Enea then had a solo homer in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. That home run, her 14th of the year, put Enea ahead of Lindsay Cameron, who hit 36 from 2002-06. Enea now has a team-high 53 RBI to go with a .352 batting average and a .754 slugging percentage.
The Gators added two runs in the three hits – singles by Hilberth, Moultrie and Paculba – and a Kentucky error. Paculba reached base four times – she also tripled but was stranded in the fourth inning.