The top-ranked Florida Gators have responded to Coach Tim Walton’s challenge. You don’t start the season as torrid as the Gators (39-3, 18-1 SEC) and sit on top of the conference and national rankings without the desire to succeed but Walton felt his team needed to let that passion pour out onto the softball diamond.
“The one thing I’ve really challenged the team to do is play with a little bit more emotion,” Walton said. “I think we’ve come a long way. Going to the World Series last year we didn’t dog pile. We just kind of stood around and didn’t know what to do.”
Any questions about this team’s emotion were immediately answered when Kelsey Bruder launched the game-winning grand slam that kick-started a Florida party at home plate after Saturday’s 6-2 victory over Mississippi State.
“As many games as I’ve coached here, Saturday was the first time we’ve ever executed a dog pile and executed what looked and appeared to be a lot of fun,” Walton said. “Kelsey hitting that grand slam on Saturday kind of just gave us a shot in the arm and fired everybody up. I was more excited about the dog pile than I really was about any of the wins we’ve had this year.”
Florida should have no problem carrying that emotion into Wednesday’s one-game home stand against in-state rival No. 21 Florida State (27-12, 5-4 ACC). The first pitch is at 6 p.m.
“When you play Florida State it brings out what it brings out,” Walton said. “It’s a great rivalry typically. They’ve held the upper hand in the state as far as softball is concerned. We have a lot of respect for what they’ve done as a program. Florida State is Florida State. It’s a great rivalry and good for the schools to play each other and bring out the best.”
For a team that has almost as many players from California (8) as from Florida (9), some may wonder if the rivalry runs as deep for this squad, but Walton knows that once you don the Orange-and-Blue, the rivalry takes on a life of its own.
“As long as you’re going to school here it means a lot to you,” Walton said. “All you have to do is go to any sporting event — soccer, football — and you know how important it is and how important it is to win at home.”
The Gators come into Wednesday with a four-game winning streak against the Seminoles. The key to extending the streak is attacking the Seminoles’ talented one-two pitching rotation. Sarah Hamilton (10-5, 1.16 ERA), the reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week, and Terese Gober (17-7, 1.35 ERA) will go after Florida’s batters looking for the strikeout. Florida State has struck out 350 batters in 270 innings, slightly more than Florida’s 335 strikeouts in 271 innings.
But Florida’s discipline at the plate could counter the Seminoles’ strength. In Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Mississippi State, none of the Gators batters struck out for the first time this year, bringing the season total to 185 strikeouts compared with 184 walks, for practically a one-to-one ratio.
Florida’s pitchers should be firing on all cylinders as well. Stacey Nelson (23-3, 0.48 ERA) earned five wins last week while Stephanie Brombacher (16-0, 0.90 ERA) battled flu-like symptoms. Brombacher is back to 100 percent after a good throwing session on Sunday and will be ready to go if her number is called.
The Seminoles play a double-header against Troy on Tuesday before heading to Gainesville for Wednesday’s game, but Walton doesn’t expect the quick turnaround to have any bearing on the matchup.
The Gators have a quick turnaround of their own as they will travel to Kentucky for a three-game series starting on Friday. The teams will play a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by the series finale Saturday at noon.