Coach Tim Walton emphasized that he wanted to see his team take more chances offensively ahead of this weekend’s series against No. 14 Arkansas.
And his team finally delivered on Saturday.
The No. 8 Gators smacked three home runs and 11 hits in an 8-0 run-rule win over the Razorbacks for their first SEC series win of the season.
Freshman Elizabeth Hightower picked up her first career SEC win in a complete-game shutout where she struck out six Razorbacks and allowed only three hits on 72 pitches.
“She gave us the chance to win the game,”Walton said. “She did that and overcame a couple hits, overcame a couple of her own mistakes, but I thought overall she did a really good job.”
Florida’s offense attacked Arkansas starter Mary Haff early and often.
Center fielder Jade Caraway walked to lead off the bottom of the first, and first baseman Amanda Lorenz singled to left. Catcher Kendyl Lindaman attacked a 2-1 pitch and belted a three-run home run to left-center field for a 3-0 lead before Haff could even record an out.
The Gators’ second home run of the day came courtesy of Lorenz. The senior crushed Haff’s first offering with two outs in the bottom of the second over the right-field fence to increase Florida’s lead to four.
“We’ve been working a lot on different counts and what pitch you should be looking for and attacking that pitch,” Lindaman said. “Everyone’s been doing really good in practice with that, and we’ve been learning a lot lately about that.”
UF (31-9, 5-6 SEC) tacked on another run in the third when outfielder Jaimie Hoover crushed Haff’s third pitch of the at-bat off the roof of the batting cages behind left field for a 5-0 lead.
Junior Lauren Graves replaced Haff in the circle for Arkansas (26-13, 6-8 SEC) for the top of the fourth and didn’t fare any better.
Shortstop Hannah Sipos led off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single and moved to second on a fielder’s choice. She advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a second wild pitch to extend the lead to six.
Lorenz then walked and Lindaman hit a single off a line drive struck right at Graves. Both moved into scoring position on Graves’ third wild pitch of the inning. Catcher Jordan Roberts drove in Lorenz with a single, but Lindaman was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Hightower walked the first two batters she faced in the top of the fifth inning but settled down and retired the next three to escape the jam.
Senior Katie Warrick pitched the fifth inning for Arkansas and walked second baseman Hannah Adams and Hoover to lead off the inning. Pinch-hitter Alex Voss’ single up the middle loaded the bases, and pinch-hitter Jordan Matthews ended the game with an RBI single to center for the Gators’ eighth run of the game.
The win gives Florida an opportunity for a sweep on Sunday as well as a .500 record in the SEC, something it hasn’t had all season.
“It’s like a whitewash, you know, it almost washes out all of the things that have happened to us to this point,” Walton said. “You almost feel like you’re back on top.”
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 and contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org.
UF first baseman Amanda Lorenz was 2 for 2 with three runs and an RBI in Florida's 8-0 win over Arkansas on Saturday.
