As Kentucky catcher Jenny Schaper scrambled for a ball that didn’t quite make it to her glove, Aleshia Ocasio was headed from third base to home plate.
Schaper went for the ball as quickly as she could, but it was too late. Ocasio had already reached the plate.
It was the second wild pitch by the Wildcats in the seventh inning, done so by two different pitchers.
And in each instance, the erratic throw pushed across another run for the Gators.
A final two-run push in the seventh inning, combined with a trio of errors made by Kentucky throughout the game, propelled Florida (39-2, 14-1 SEC) to a 4-0 victory in the first game of its weekend SEC series in Lexington, Kentucky.
It is the Gators seventh-straight SEC victory and ninth-straight victory overall, most recently taking down the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Florida was hardly able to produce much meaningful offense, garnering four hits and winning off a walk-off hit in the seventh.
Friday’s victory didn’t prove to be much different.
The team connected on three hits in the game, a pair coming from junior Janell Wheaton.
The San Dimas, California, native also had the team’s two lone RBIs of the game, which drove in runs in the first and third innings.
Wheaton now has 18 RBIs on the season.
While the team may not have tacked on statistics in terms of hits, Florida’s batters do know when they shouldn’t swing. The Gators drew eight walks on Friday night, three of those coming from sophomore Amanda Lorenz.
It is the most walks that she has drawn in a single game this season.
Even though the Gators were able to convert runs off both the Wildcats errors and their earned walks, Kentucky never seemed to get much of an offense together.
The Wildcats had just come off a big 10-1 win over Louisville earlier this week, but were shutout today.
The shutout was due to a dominant pitching effort from sophomore Kelly Barnhill, the most recent recipient of the SEC’s pitcher of the week award.
Barnhill, who was also recently named a 2017 USA Softball Player of the Year Finalist (alongside fellow UF pitcher Delanie Gourley), notched 15 strikeouts in the game, her second-most in a single game this season. She also allowed a pair of hits and one walk.
Although Florida found ways to get on base and eventually score, the win was truly characterized by tough pitching and defense.
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UF pitcher Kelly Barnhill throws a pitch during Florida's 5-0 win against Georgia on April 8, 2017, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
