In a matchup that was billed as the pitching of LSU versus the hitting of Florida, the Gator’s pitchers proved that they too can throw with the best there is.
And with the game on the line, the Florida bats lived up to their reputation, as senior Corrie Brooks belted a game-winning walk-off home run to give the No. 6 Gators (26-4, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) a 2-1 victory and a doubleheader sweep of No. 12 LSU (29-6, 8-2 SEC).
“It’s always a battle in the SEC just like you’ve seen last weekend with Alabama so it’s really great,” Brooks said. “Especially with them being on a (24) game winning streak for us to beat them here it’s a really great feeling.”
On the day, Florida pitchers Stephanie Brombacher and Ensley Gammel combined to give up just one earned run over 14 innings.
Brombacher got the afternoon started with a complete-game performance in which she allowed only one run on five hits.
After the Gators started the game with back-to-back hits, junior Kelsey Bruder singled home the game’s first run. Junior Megan Bush followed with a sacrifice fly, and Florida had a 2-0 lead.
The Gators doubled their lead in the second, as a leadoff single by freshman Brittany Walker and a walk by junior Aja Paculba set the stage for senior Francesca Enea to deliver a two-run double to center.
This would be all the run support Brombacher would need, as Ashley Langoni’s sixth-inning solo home run to center was the only run Brombacher would yield.
In the nightcap, Gammel had a gem of a performance, allowing just two hits and a single unearned run.
“I knew it was going to be a tough, close game and I just gave it my best,” Gammel said. “As pitchers you live for these kinda games, this is what we’re meant for.”
LSU’s lone run came in the top of the third, when an error by Bush with runners on second and third allowed LSU to take a 1-0 lead.
That lead stood until the bottom of the sixth, when Gammel helped herself out with a lead-off single and later scored on a single by Bruder that tied the game at one.
And so it stood until the bottom of the seventh, when with one out and the bases empty Brooks stepped to the plate and crushed the 1-1 offering over the scoreboard in left-center.
“I just told myself don’t try to pull the ball, think opposite field, and it came up that I got a good pitch to hit,” Brooks said.
The home run was Brooks’ fourth in her last four games, and each shot has either tied the game or given UF the lead.
“If you give us a last at-bat to win the ball game, we got a pretty good chance of winning and Corrie did that for us today,” UF coach Tim Walton said.
