Backed by a heavy dose of power and patience, the No. 2 Florida
softball team scored a combined 28 runs in its two blowout wins
Saturday.
The Gators (18-0) set a team record with 18 walks against North
Dakota State and hit three home runs in the 18-0 shellacking.
It was a tough day for Bisons’ starter Katie Tamayo, who issued
five consecutive walks to start the game. Tamayo surrendered 15
walks and allowed 12 earned runs in only 3.2 innings of work.
In the second inning, the Gators capitalized on North Dakota
State’s three errors with six runs, including a three-run homer by
Kelsey Horton.
Already up 14-0, third baseman Kasey Fagan capped off the win with
her first career home run, a grand-slam line drive to left
field.
The run support was more than enough for Stephanie Brombacher, who
earned her 10th win in as many starts.
Brombacher allowed two hits, striking out five in her fifth shutout
of the year.
Although it took a little longer for the offense to ignite against
Pacific, the Gators eventually battled back from an early 2-1
deficit to win 10-2.
Pacific came out with an aggressive approach and gave UF freshman
Hannah Rogers some trouble in the fourth inning.
After Lindsey Pierce singled to center, shortstop Nicole Matson
homered to give the Tigers the lead.
However, Rogers settled down and Pacific only managed one single
the rest of the game.
“Our hitters did a good job attacking at the plate,” Pacific coach
Brian Kolze said. “We hit some balls hard and they made a couple
nice plays, otherwise we would have had seven or eight hits.”
While Tigers’ starter Tori Shepard held UF’s lineup in check for
four innings, she unraveled in the fifth.
After Michelle Moultrie and Aja Paculba singled to start the
inning, the Gators re-captured the lead with back-to-back home runs
by Brittany Schutte and Megan Bush.
UF added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game
via the run rule.
Despite the final score, Kolze thought there were more positives to
take away considering how close the game was until the final
innings.
“If you have to throw a lot of pitches, it’s tough to go against a
team like Florida with the way they hit,” he said. “Everything’s
stacked against you. There’s 50 people rooting for you, and 25 of
them are in the dugout.”
“It’s unfortunate how it got away at the end, but a lot of people
won’t travel and play in a situation like this.”
Florida coaches and players were not made available to the
media at coach Tim Walton’s request.
