Florida’s trademark in 2013 has been scoring early and often.
But on Sunday, it was Mississippi State hanging crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs (24-14. 3-9 Southeastern Conference) jumped out to a five-run lead in the second inning and held on to defeat the No. 3 Gators (38-4, 12-3 SEC) 6-5 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium to end Florida’s 12-game winning streak.
“They had 11 hits, we had [five],” sophomore Lauren Haeger said. “It’s hard to win when the other team has 11 hits and you have [five].”
After pitching a scoreless first, junior Hannah Rogers fell apart in the second. The right-hander surrendered a leadoff home run to Mississippi State designated player Briana Bell and never regained her control.
Bulldogs second baseman Heidi Shape followed with a triple and scored on a single by Erin Nesbit. MSU scored five in the inning.
“I don’t think anything was working for her,” coach Tim Walton said. “I think she was throwing the ball over the plate too much.”
But after falling behind early, the Gators rallied.
Kelsey Horton and Taylor Schwarz began the bottom of the second with singles, and Briana Little walked to load the bases.
Following a Kirsti Merritt popout, catcher Taylore Fuller, who came into the game batting .179, worked a 2-2 count. After crushing a foul ball left of the left-field foul pole, the freshman kept a long ball fair, bringing in four runs for Florida.
“It feels better to produce for my team, finally,” Fuller said. “I would have gone with a base hit, but a grand slam is that much better.”
But MSU stalled UF’s momentum and tacked on a sixth run in the top of the third on a single by center fielder Loryn Nichols. Shape scored on the play, colliding with Fuller at the plate. The ball rolled to the backstop, where pitcher Alyssa Bache fielded it and threw to Fuller, who tagged Nesbit out to end the inning.
The Gators added a fifth run in the sixth inning on a home run by Horton, but went down in order to finish the game in the seventh.
“Being down 5-0 in softball is like being down four touchdowns in football,” Walton said. “We did a good job at keeping it competitive and keeping it close.”
Contact Adam Lichtenstein at alichtenstein@alligator.org.
Junior starter Hannah Rogers pitches during Florida’s 9-1 victory against UNC Wilmington on Feb. 17 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Rogers gave up five runs to Mississippi State in the second inning on Sunday.
