Thankfully for the Gators, the team with the most hits does not always win.
No. 3 Florida (14-1) struggled Thursday evening against Eastern Michigan, collecting a season-low two hits.
The Gators also tied their worst run-output of the season with two, but their low offensive output was still good enough to notch their 14th win of the season.
The Eagles (2-8) took the home team to extra innings, and even threatened to score the go-ahead run in the eighth.
However, sophomore Hannah Rogers (9-0) shut down EMU when needed. She gave up one run and three hits in eight innings, while also striking out the second-most batters in a game in her career with 11.
No strikeout was as electrifying as her final one, sitting down a batter in the eighth with two outs and a runner on third.
“It was a big moment for the game,” Rogers said. “It was good to get out that last batter because you never know what might have happened after that.”
It was an unusually soft-hit dribbler by junior Brittany Schutte that sent everyone home.
EMU first baseman Lindsay Smith froze and mishandled the ball, allowing Jess Damico to cross the plate from third. Even with the game ending on somewhat of a flukey play, coach Tim Walton said he will take a win.
“We still have room for improvement, but a win is a win. ... We don’t get disappointed in ‘W’s, that’s just getting selfish,” Walton said.
“[We] find a way to get it done. There were some nice things that happened . . . just not a whole lot of nice things.”
Walton led his team out to play for the first time in five days, Florida’s longest break thus far this season. However, he shot down any possibility of his team getting rusty while resting.
“We saw three different pitchers, and they all did a good job mixing up their speeds and locations,” Walton said.
“At the end of the day, we got to go in and make sooner adjustments. I thought we hit the ball hard, but we just hit it right at some people. And that part of the game happens, too.”
