Coach Tim Walton has been preaching to his team that they have to better at the plate.
The Gators haven’t put together a streak of games where the offense has really started to click since its California road trip in early March.
But that all changed against South Carolina.
The Gamecocks were at the mercy of UF’s offense as No. 3 Florida (36-4, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) swept its doubleheader against South Carolina (26-15, 2-10 SEC) outscoring the Gamecocks 35-5 and winning both games via run rule.
UF won the first game against South Carolina 19-0 and then won 16-3 in the second.
Florida scored 45 runs in its three game series against South Carolina, which is the most runs scored by the Gators in a three game set in program history.
“We’ve been working really hard to get our bats going again,” Lauren Haeger said. “Just line drives, ground balls and we worked really really hard this week on our swings. So I’m happy that it paid off.”
Haeger was right in the middle of the offensive outburst against South Carolina as she hit three home runs and drove in 10 with a robust 1.875 slugging percentage.
Haeger hadn’t hit a home run in a game since March 7 against Fresno State and is now one home run of away of Megan Bush’s program record of 65.
“I feel my swing better. We had made a lot of adjustments to it a couple of weeks ago,” Haeger said. “We kind of just went back to the original. I just been working really hard on just going back to normal and just trying to get my groove back.”
Delanie Gourley badly needed a good start in the circle after her recent outings.
Walton tabbed her to start the second game of the doubleheader, but it didn’t look like her string of bad recent performances was coming to an end.
South Carolina’s Kaylea Snaer hit a three run home run in the first inning to give them a 3-0 lead.
Gourley was able to calm herself down a bit, but only pitched three innings since Walton took her out for Haeger to change the tempo of the game since rain was starting to come down.
“We’re going to have to change how she comes out of the bullpen,” Walton said. “Everybody will take a day off of defense on Monday and she’ll come in and pitch. “We’re gonna just need her, look at her routine and figure out what we need to change to make her more effective.”
In the first game of the doubleheader, Florida got to South Carolina pitcher Nickie Blue early. Blue came into the game with a 1.18 ERA on the season, but she struggled with her command for the second straight day.
UF scored six runs in the second inning and ended Blue’s day after 1.2 innings, with three of the runs she gave up being earned.
Florida got its six runs in a myriad of ways. Taylore Fuller got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to begin the scoring. Lauren Haeger scored after Briana Little hit a comebacker to Blue, who fired home but South Carolina’s catcher couldn’t handle the throw.
And to cap off the scoring in the frame, Kirsti Merritt and Kelsey Stewart executed a double steal to perfection to make it 6-0.
It would only get worse for the Gamecocks from then on as UF would add 12 more runs in the game to obliterate South Carolina 19-0.
Florida’s sweep against USC is the first conference sweep of the season for UF. The Gators weren’t able to finish off Alabama or Mississippi State, but they were able to dominate South Carolina.
“We let one get away from us last weekend, but this is good,” Walton said. “I thought our intensity was good. I think you can tell they really wanted the sweep. It’s hard to do that in our league.”
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
Lauren Haeger pitches during Florida's 14-10 loss to LSU on Saturday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
