In SEC grudge matches, history goes out the window and anything can happen, even if that history is only a few hours old, as the fourth-ranked Florida Gators softball team found out Saturday.
The Gators (17-3, 1-1 SEC) seemed like they were on their way to cruising to a pair of SEC victories to open conference play after smashing Ole Miss 12-2 in five innings in the first game of the doubleheader. Against weaker competition, that drubbing may have drained the confidence out of the opponent. But in the SEC that usually only means the team is going to come after you twice as hard the second time around. Ole Miss (16-9, 3-1) did exactly that as the Rebels fought their way to a 6-4 eight-inning win to split the doubleheader.
“Just because you beat a team by 10 runs doesn’t mean the next game in the SEC that’s going to happen,” junior Tiffany DeFelice said. “Every team’s going to give you a dogfight.”
Florida (17-3, 1-1 SEC) has come to expect a dogfight from every SEC team, even if that team is one you have shut out in the past four meetings, as Florida did to Ole Miss (16-9, 3-1 SEC). That’s the nature of being top dog in the SEC for the past few seasons.
“We know people always come after us hard because we’re Florida,” senior Francesca Enea said. “We beat a lot of teams up in the past, so they always come after us hard. They’re going to come out with everything. You never know what’s going to happen, so we have to be our best every day. We can’t just show up and win. We have to show our heart and our fight.”
The game was a tight affair throughout and it looked as if the Rebels had the Gators where they wanted them, holding a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. But as the Gators have become accustomed to doing, they wiped the lead away with one swing of the bat when Enea stepped up to the plate.
It was clear the Rebels were trying to avoid giving Enea something to hit all night long, as Enea walked four times on the day. But Rebel pitcher Brittany Barnhill left enough of the full-count pitch on the outside of the plate for Enea, who went 2-for-3 in the game, to hit an opposite-field bomb into the trees in right field. The home run was the 52nd of Enea’s career, moving her past Tonya Callahan (Tennessee, 2008) for sole possession of second place all-time in the SEC. Enea only sits behind Kelly Kretschman (Alabama, 2001) and her 60 career long balls.
The long ball seemed like it would give the Gators enough juice to get the bats going as DeFelice, who was 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI on the day, followed it up a few batters later with an RBI single to give the Gators the lead, and it seemed like it would be enough for the Gators to hang on, but that was not the case this time.
“You never know,” DeFelice said. “In the SEC usually it’s not a one-run thing. As you can see, it didn’t. At the time, no I didn’t think so. I thought we would have to keep scoring some more runs.”
But the Gators were unable to put any more runs on the board until it was too late, although it certainly wasn’t for lack of opportunities. Florida batters drew a season-high 12 walks in the game to go along with their 10 hits, but failed to capitalize on countless opportunities, leaving 17 runners on base.
Florida’s lack of production in clutch situations was surprising after the Gators strung together 12 runs on 10 hits and six walks the first game, but assistant coach Jenny Gladding attributed it to the different pitching styles of the Rebels hurlers. The Gators were able to score at will against the movement pitching in the first game, while Barnhill was able to use her power at just the right time to get out of jams.
Barnhill (7-1) also helped her own cause from the batter’s box, taking junior Stephanie Brombacher (13-3) deep to lead off the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings. Brombacher responded by bringing the heat to strike out the next three batters, but she would face a little bit of hard luck in the bottom of the eighth that would lead to the Gators’ downfall.
Ole Miss’s Cali Overbeck led off the eighth with a hit down the right-field line that junior Kelsey Bruder just missed snagging on a dive, resulting in a triple. Brombacher buckled down and retired the next two batters and seemed like she would escape the inning unscathed after inducing a grounder to shortstop, but the neck-and-neck play at first base was called safe. Barnhill stepped up a few batters later and launched another deep shot that hit the top of the center field wall before falling back into play, bringing home the two runs that would prove to be the winning margin.
Florida was able to load the bases in the bottom of the eighth, but was only able to muster one run, on a Megan Bush sacrifice fly, keeping with the theme of the night.
Losing a game when they had so many opportunities to take control before ultimately letting it slip away was not easy for the Gators to swallow.
“It’s frustrating because you get so close and it gets taken away from you,” Enea said.
It’s a stinging feeling that will make sure the Gators don’t leave anything to chance as the season goes on, particularly capitalizing on scoring opportunities. Florida takes on Ole Miss on Sunday at noon in the rubber match.
Game Notes: The last time Ole Miss scored against Florida was when the Rebels put up two runs on March 9, 2008. … Enea snapped her 12-game hitting streak in the first game after going 0-1 with two walks. It was only the second game this season she did not record a hit, with the other coming against Campbell, which snapping her five-game hitting streak. … Enea recorded her third outfield assist of the year, throwing out a runner at second trying to stretch a single into two. Enea had one total the past two seasons. … Michelle Moultrie batted in the two-hole for the fourth straight game, and responded with two doubles in the first game. Brittany Schutte spent her fourth straight game batting fifth, going 1-for-5 on the day. … Brittany Walker was the only Gator who did not draw a walk in the second game. Walker went 2-for-5 after hitting 2-for-3 with a double, triple and four RBI in the opener. … Ensley Gammel had a solid start for Florida in game two, allowing two runs on six hits and four walks, while striking out nine.