Sometimes lightning does strike twice. It did for the No. 1 Florida Gators softball team Wednesday night.
Down to their last strike against No. 21 Florida State, the Gators got a reprieve when Megan Bush hit a 2-2 changeup from Terese Gober off the scoreboard in left-center to tie the game at 3-3.
Then in the bottom of the ninth inning, leadoff batter Francesca Enea hit a 1-1 pitch from Gober high over the foul pole in left field to send the Gators to a 4-3 victory over the Seminoles.
“I was actually thinking that I just wanted to hit a little single to get the inning started,” Enea said. “I even thought that when I was in the outfield the inning before, ‘Just get a single. You don’t need to hit a home run. Just get something started for your team.’ But I like that ending.”
Enea, who now has a team-high 12 homers, one more than Bush, knew how much was riding on the line against Florida’s instate nemesis and she wasn’t going to leave the field without another victory under her belt.
“Losing to an instate team kind of hurts a little bit more,” Enea said. “Then they always think they’re better than us. They’re a great team – I’m not taking anything away from them – but we know that we are better than them and that we can always do better.”
The Gators (40-3) were spurred on by the second-largest crowd (2,398) ever at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, second only to the 2,423 who showed up for the Saturday doubleheader against Alabama. That extra pulse in the stadium may have helped push the Gators over the top against the Seminoles (29-13).
“The crowd was awesome,” Bush said. “I was completely blown away. It was unexpected to have that many people, but I was so grateful to all the people that came out and stayed with us until the end. They never thought it was over and neither did we. It just made the whole experience a lot better.”
When Enea crossed home plate, the Gators executed their second dogpile in the last five days. On Saturday, her teammates piled on Kelsey Bruder after her walk-off grand-slam homer beat Mississippi State, 6-2.
“It’s so funny because last season when we won to go to the World Series, we jumped up and down like little 12-year-old girls,” Enea said. “We didn’t even dogpile. We always make fun of that. When Kelsey hit her (walk-off grand slam), we dogpiled and were like, ‘We dogpiled against Mississippi State and not to go to the World Series?’ When I was running around the bases I was like, ‘I hope they dogpile me! I’ve never been in one!’ Then I saw Kristina (Hilberth) just bounding towards me with hands in the air ready to tackle me and I was like, ‘Do it!’”
Florida got on the board early when Aja Paculba, who went 2-for-4, scored on a wild pitch in the first inning. Then one of the stranger plays of the year happened in the third inning when Michelle Moultrie attempted to steal second after reaching on a bunt single. Moultrie appeared to be tagged out on the play and started walking towards the dugout when the umpire signaled her safe. Caught between the bases, Moultrie scrambled to third and slid headfirst. The throw was high, allowing Moultrie to jump up and head home, giving Florida a 2-0 lead.
Until the late inning heroics, the Gators bats didn’t have much more luck against Florida State’s pitching duo of Sarah Hamilton and Gober. Hamilton struck out seven Florida batters in five innings, while allowing two runs on three hits. Gober struck out four in three innings, but allowed both Florida home runs. Even though they couldn’t carry the Seminoles to victory, Walton couldn’t help but be impressed.
“I think that tandem is probably as good as our tandem is,” Walton said. “I haven’t seen a tandem like that since maybe what Arizona had a few years ago. That’s a very good pitching staff, completely different, very hard to prepare for and I thought they did a great job.”
Sophomore right-hander Stephanie Brombacher started the day for Florida in her first game since recovering from flu-like symptoms, allowing three runs off seven hits while striking out seven.
Brombacher held the Florida State batters in check through five innings before giving up a two-run home run in the top of the sixth that tied the game at two.
The following inning, Brombacher gave up the go-ahead home run that put the Gators in the hole. She had only surrendered two prior home runs this season. But her roommate bailed her out and kept her perfect career record intact. Brombacher now has three straight no decisions and has been bailed out of losses in two of them. She remains 16-0 this season and 36-0 in her Florida career.
“I pretty much knew (Bush) could do it,” Brombacher said. “There was a little bit of doubt in my head, but I love her. She’s my roommate. She’s one of my best friends. I owe her whatever she wants.”
Bush might even take her up on that offer, but she isn’t going to wait to celebrate.
“I should think about that,” Bush said. “I mean I’ll go buy myself whatever I want. I’m just proud of myself for hitting the changeup.”
Nelson (24-3) earned the win, pitching the last 1.2 innings for the Gators, who have now won six straight, all of them by Nelson. She struck out three of the six batters she faced while only allowing one hit. The victory moves Nelson into a tie for 12th on the NCAA career victories list with 119.
The Gators now have plenty of experience if they ever face a similar situation in the postseason.
“We haven’t really been used to (being down late) in the past,” Bush said. “We’ve just been used to getting our runs. We haven’t been playing with the emotion we wanted to and now we’re picking it up. These tight wins are just reinforcing that we need to play with more emotion. Our hearts are right in the game. When we get behind, you can really tell that we want to win. It’s not just, ‘Oh. We’re winning the whole game, now let’s finish it.’ Now it’s ‘Let’s come back. Let’s win. Let’s put our hearts in the game and let’s do it.’”
Florida travels to Kentucky to play a three-game series this weekend. The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. on Friday and the series finale at noon on Saturday.