The neon yellow softball bounced three times on the iron-red metal roof beyond the left field wall before rolling down. A small group of children waited below with outstretched arms for a souvenir.
Trotting around the bases, senior Reagan Walsh greeted her teammates at home plate with high fives and a few pats on the back. For the fourth time in three games, the Florida first baseman hit a homer.
Despite the Gators punching three runs an inning earlier, Walsh’s homer – and senior utility player Brooke Barnard’s subsequent RBI single – broke the game open against FAMU.
Behind Walsh’s homer, the No. 3 Gators (23-1) earned their sixth consecutive run-rule victory this season in the final game of the Florida Invitational. UF defeated FAMU 9-1 on Sunday to extend its win streak to nine games since the No. 14 Duke loss on Feb. 16.
“Beating teams is hard. Winning is hard,” said senior center fielder Kendra Falby, who’s reached base in every game she’s played in this season. “So being able to come out every single day… knowing that the person in front of you, behind you, on the bench is going to be able to do their job [is] really nice to know. That's a really good momentum push into SEC play this coming week.”
Left-handed sophomore pitcher Olivia Miller spun the ball past the FAMU batters over the course of four innings-her first time recording more than 3 innings pitched since her Feb. 14 start against Providence. With no earned runs and three strikeouts, she reduced her ERA to 1.31, the lowest average of any Florida pitcher who’s recorded at least 16 innings this season, besides sophomore righty Keagan Rothrock.
In the fifth inning, Miller handed a five-run lead to senior right-handed pitcher Kara Hammock, who closed the game with no earned runs over two innings.
For a Florida team that has struggled to find a second pitcher to match Rothrock’s success, Sunday’s matchup demonstrated its pitching staff’s ability to shine in the circle. Whether that can translate to more competitive teams in the SEC remains unknown.
“Being able to see Olivia go out there and do her job and have really good pitches and then trusting the defense behind her, it's amazing,” Falby said. “Because I see her work every single day, and I see how hard she works and just how bad she wants it.”
Florida, which hit grand slams to start both of Saturday’s doubleheaders, took a small-ball approach on Sunday. UF batted .333 with runners on base, but, more telling, hit .833 in situations with a runner on third and fewer than two outs.
“Pitch by pitch. We're taking every pitch seriously,” Walsh said. “Just looking for a pitch to drive.”
After a quiet first inning, sophomore second baseman Mia Williams smashed the ball toward FAMU (4-10) senior second baseman Kiauna Watson. She misjudged the soft bounce the softball took on the dirt, with it trickling under her glove and into the outfield, allowing Walsh to score.
However, on the fielding side, Florida had its difficulties. Barnard struggled slightly behind the plate. At times, the ball flew past her, thudding against the padded wall behind home plate.
In the third inning, she launched the ball past second base in an attempt to throw out the advancing FAMU runner. The ball flew to the center field wall, giving the scrambling Watson enough time to safely score for FAMU.
For the first time in nine consecutive innings, the Rattlers were on the board. The chirps from Florida A&M’s dugout, which lasted throughout the afternoon, grew louder. But, with Walsh’s homer in the bottom of the inning, there was little the Rattlers could do to stop the Gators.
The next step for Florida is translating its success to when it faces more competitive teams. UF's only loss on the season came mid-February in a game where the Gators, forced to play catch up against No. 14 Duke, scored once. Now, with their first top 5 matchup of the season looming against No. 5 Texas A&M this weekend, Florida will face opponents where every mistake can be costly.
“It doesn't matter what their ERA is,” Walsh said. “That’s what I think of when I get into the box. I don't care who you are, what pitches you have. We're going to come out and we have such a great offense that we're prepared for everything that's coming at us.”
The team travels this week for an extended stay in Texas, playing Houston first before facing the Aggies. The Gators game against the Cougars starts on Wednesday at 6 p.m. EST.
Contact Liana Handler at lhandler@alligator.org. Follow her on X @handlerliana
Liana is the Gators gymnastic beat reporter for the Alligator and a junior sports journalism major. In her free time, she likes to play dominos and listen to Celia Cruz.
