On a team filled with experienced players, it was a pair of freshmen who stepped up when the Gators needed it most.
Brittany Schutte came through with the game-tying single in the seventh and the game-winning home run in the ninth as the No. 6 Gators (24-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) earned a 4-3 extra-inning victory over UCF (22-13, 7-1 Conference USA).
Freshman pitcher Ensley Gammel got the win, throwing four scoreless innings in relief of Stephanie Brombacher.
“She really pitched well,” coach Tim Walton said. “She saved the game for us and really made big pitches in big spots.”
Florida left 13 runners on base but did just enough to survive its trip to Orlando.
“It does get a little frustrating when we can’t hit situationally, but you can’t let it affect the rest of the game,” Schutte said. “I feel like we were able to get past that when we needed to and in the most important situations put the ball in play.”
Brombacher got the start and threw first pitch strikes to 16 consecutive batters after getting behind the game’s first two, which helped her mow through the first four innings.
However, her shutout came to an end shortly after that streak, as a trio of singles gave UCF a 1-0 lead in the fifth.
Senior Corrie Brooks knotted the score up at one in the sixth when she hit her third home run in her last eight at-bats. Brooks’ shot was the first extra-base hit of the game after the Gators scattered eight singles through the first five innings.
But the Knights, fueled by a record-breaking crowd of 1,091, started the bottom of the sixth with a single, double, and two-RBI triple from freshman Marissa Menendez, giving them a 3-1 advantage.
After Gammel came in to close out the sixth, the Gators started the seventh with three consecutive hits of their own, including an RBI double from senior Francesca Enea that cut the deficit to one.
Junior Megan Bush followed with a pop out, and then Schutte tied the game with a single to left.
“(I) didn’t really feel any pressure,” Schutte said. “I was just taking it one pitch at a time. I just focused on my pitch and hit it when I got the chance.”
Both teams got a runner to third with less than two out in the eighth but were unable to capitalize, leaving the door open for Schutte to hit the game-winning home run in the ninth.
“She got one in her wheelhouse and really drove it,” coach Tim Walton said. “I don’t think she’s a freshman anymore. She gets a lot of playing time, and she’s really done a good job with it.”
UCF refused to go quietly, as junior Abby McClain drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth and then moved to third two batters later on an error by replacement first baseman Samantha Holle.
But Gammel was able to control the damage, striking out the final two batters to end the threat and the game.
“The last couple at-bats I was just going right at the batters and trying not to get overwhelmed and worked up,” Gammel said. “I just wanted to go pitch by pitch, and then when the third out was made I was just thinking, ‘Thank goodness we won.’ We just like to make it exciting I guess.”
