Another day, another dominating performance by Stephanie Brombacher.
The Gators’ ace followed Friday’s complete-game shutout with another one Saturday, this time allowing only a single hit as No. 4 Florida (45-8) defeated UCF (36-23) 6-0 to advance to the final of Gainesville’s NCAA Tournament Regional.
Brombacher, who struck out eight Knights while only walking a pair, was pitching a no-hitter before UCF senior Hillary Barrow grounded a single up the middle with one out in the seventh.
“Normally I don’t think about it, but then I looked back at the scoreboard and saw it,” Brombacher said of nearly holding the Knights hitless. “Hillary – I’ve known her for years – she’s a great hitter and the best hitter on their team so I respect her, and it’s okay if it’s someone I respect.”
A number of Gators were able to use their experience playing UCF earlier in the season to their advantage on Saturday.
Brombacher in particular based much of her pitch selection on the results of previous matchups with the Knights’ hitters.
“Last time I pitched to them I threw them a lot of curveballs,” Brombacher said. “So I think they were just trying to wait and hit curveballs and I really didn’t throw that many curveballs today.”
On the offensive end, UF coach Tim Walton opted to move junior Kelsey Bruder up from sixth in the lineup to third due to her previous success against UCF pitcher Ashleigh Cole.
That move paid major dividends in the top of the first when Bruder homered to right to give the Gators an early 2-0 lead.
“Being knowledgeable about what she throws always helps,” Bruder said. “We watched a little video and saw where we were at in the box and what pitches she was throwing. That and scouting reports just get you well prepared.”
Florida extended its lead to four in the top of the fifth, scoring a pair of runs thanks to some sloppy fielding by UCF and a sacrifice fly by junior Aja Paculba.
Paculba and Bruder were also the primary catalysts behind the Gators adding two insurance runs in the seventh, as Paculba hit a double to center to score Michelle Moultrie before Bruder brought Paculba home with a single up the middle just three pitches later.
Because UF won the first game of the day, it was able to take the afternoon off to rest up and prepare for today’s regional final against FIU, which defeated Bethune-Cookman 2-0 and UCF 7-0 on Saturday.
The Gators need only one win to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals, while the Golden Panthers would need to pull out a pair of victories in order to move on.
