In 2007, then-second year head coach Tim Walton led a then-No. 17 Florida Gator softball team into Los Angeles for a five-game tournament. Two of those games were against the Illinois State Redbirds.
Over the course of those games, the Gators failed to score any runs and mustered together only eight hits in losses that dropped Florida to 0-2 against Illinois State in the two teams’ first ever meetings.
Oh, how the times have changed.
Since that time, the Gators had won seven straight games against the Redbirds with a differential of 37 runs.
And Friday evening, the No. 4 Florida softball team extended that streak with a 9-0 shutout victory in Tampa to open the season.
Powered by a fiery season-opening performance from senior pitcher Delanie Gourley and the Gators offense, which gathered eight hits, Florida forced Illinois State into early submission after five innings.
Gourley had a phenomenal start to her final campaign, totaling 12 strikeouts and only giving up one hit. She also allowed no walks.
To start the game, the 2016 First-Team All-American retired the first three batters she faced, two with strikeouts and one with a groundout to herself.
Using her nearly pitch perfect defensive performance, the Gators (1-0) carried that momentum and exploited the Redbirds (0-3) early.
Up against many battle-tested Gator veterans, Illinois State sophomore pitcher Ali Domkuski gave up five earned runs in two innings of work.
The scoring started with a double from junior first baseman Kayli Kvistad, who brought home junior Nicole DeWitt and sophomore Amanda Lorenz to give the Gators an early 2-0 nudge.
Up next, junior Janell Wheaton hit a double to bring Kvistad home and give Florida the 3-0 edge.
A homerun in the third inning by Wheaton created a 5-0 cushion and pulled Domkuski out of the game in favor of redshirt freshman Veronique Johnson.
In the very next at bat, senior outfielder Chelsea Herndon blasted a homerun into right-center field, securing an already comfortable lead even further.
Gourley, who earned her first victory of the season and 44th of her career, continued a dominant display of arm strength while completing the full game. She gave up just one single in the fourth inning to sophomore Shannon Felde to keep her from a perfect game.
She struck out five of the next six batters and the Gators earned three more runs before the game was called early.
While the victory was sizable, the Gators now head into a Saturday doubleheader with a backend game featuring No. 6 Michigan.
Florida starts play at 10 a.m. against St. Johns University before its showdown with the Wolverines.
Contact Skyler Lebron at slebron@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @SkylerLebron
Delanie Gourley pitches during Florida's 14-10 loss to LSU on March 14, 2015, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
