Crouched behind home plate, Aubree Munro has seen the ups of Florida’s pitchers. Now she’s seen the downs.
Munro, who saw action at catcher in every game against LSU this weekend, witnessed a Tigers offense come into Gainesville and rough up Florida’s pitchers to help LSU take two of three games from the Gators – UF’s first two losses of the season.
Munro knows the losses sting.
"It’s a little bit tough to forget a weekend like that when we’re the kind of team that we are at the caliber that we play at," she said. "It’s not something that we just kind of forget about."
Prior to Fridays’ series-opening game against LSU, Florida pitchers had allowed only 28 runs (18 earned) through their first 27 games.
In three games against the Tigers, the staff gave up 27 runs (19 earned). LSU hitters smacked UF pitchers around, hitting .371 over the weekend.
Munro witnessed the go-ahead seventh inning grand slam off the bat of LSU’s Kellsi Kloss that handed Florida its first loss of the season Saturday.
Munro saw Bianka Bell crush a three-run home run in the sixth inning of Sunday’s loss that gave LSU a 6-3 lead and essentially put the game out of reach.
But Munro knows she can’t dwell on instances like those.
"You gotta have a short memory in this game or else it’ll kind of spiral," she said.
As Florida continues Southeastern Conference play, its rotation will have to deal with more potent offenses like LSU’s.
Consider this: LSU’s first three hitters in AJ Andrews, Bailey Landry and Bianka Bell combined to hit .564 with 14 RBIs and 15 runs scored in the series.
Even UF center fielder Kirsti Merritt could tell from the outfield that the Gators pitchers didn’t look like themselves last weekend.
"Maybe some calls didn’t go the way that they wanted to," Merritt said. "I could see that and I was like, ‘dang, I thought that was a strike,’ but you can never change that."
But Merritt knows Florida’s hurlers will bounce back, despite seeing their combined ERA jump from 0.76 before the weekend to 1.39 after the weekend.
"They just need to work on hitting their spots," she said.
So who is Florida’s ace? Who does coach Tim Walton want holding the ball in the circle in the team’s biggest games and moments?
Walton isn’t quite sure if he has an ace.
"Maybe that hurts us a little bit not to have a true, true number one pitcher," he said. "We have three really good pitchers that we like. I don’t know that we have one that’s emerged as the frontrunner to say she’s our go-to."
Regardless, Walton knows he has a good team on his hands, and he’s isn’t going to panic – especially because he loved the fight he saw in his players against the Tigers.
"As great as LSU played this weekend, we’re three pitches away from taking two out of three, whether that’s three pitches on our side or three pitches on their side."
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
Aubree Munro catches during Florida's 7-1 win against Kansas on Feb. 21 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
