When Florida and Florida State met up at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on March 27, the two teams played eight innings before a winner prevailed.
UF and FSU needed only five on Wednesday.
The No. 3 Gators’ (42-5, 14-4 Southeastern Conference) offense came out in full force in an 8-0 run-rule victory against the Seminoles (34-15, 13-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Wednesday night at JoAnne Graf Stadium in Tallahassee.
“Last time, we had runners on base, we just weren’t able to get quality hits and score with runners in scoring position,” coach Tim Walton said. “It’s really nice to get production out of a lot of people.”
Florida State right-hander Monica Perry got the start for the Seminoles. Perry took the loss in the previous matchup, giving up the game-winning grand slam to Florida outfielder Briana Little. Perry did not fare much better on Wednesday.
After Perry struck out the side in the first, freshman Taylor Schwarz put the Gators on the board in the second. Following a single by junior Stephanie Tofft, Schwarz launched a home run over the left-field fence.
“I fouled a couple off that I think were balls, and then she threw me that inside pitch,” Schwarz said. “That was my favorite pitch.”
Florida tacked on three more runs in the third inning to break the game open.
Center fielder Kirsti Merritt led off the inning with her fourth triple of the season, a long fly ball to deep right-center field. Senior Kelsey Horton, playing against Florida State for the final time, drove Merritt in with a single.
After Horton’s hit, Tofft singled to keep the inning going. Tofft and Horton each advanced a base on a wild pitch. Then, Schwarz delivered her third and fourth RBI of the game with a single up the middle that scored both runners.
Schwarz is 5 for 5 with two home runs, a triple and seven RBI in Florida’s past two games.
“I was just feeling really confident in the box today and I was seeing the ball well,” Schwarz said.
Horton drove in two more runs on a double in the fourth, extending the Gators’ lead to seven. Freshman Kelsey Stewart chopped a single through the middle of the infield to officially activate the run rule.
While Florida’s offense was scoring off Florida State pitchers, the Gators had sophomore Alyssa Bache in the circle. With staff ace Hannah Rogers struggling lately, Florida needed Bache to turn in a strong start.
The right-hander picked up her eighth victory of the season, surrendering only two hits in five scoreless innings.
The sophomore relied on groundouts throughout the game. Bache struck out the first batter she faced, and then retired 10 of the next 14 outs on groundouts.
“I just wanted to get outs,” Bache said. “Coming from Kentucky and Mississippi State games, I was getting a lot of groundouts and my movement was really working. I was just trying to work on hitting my spots.”
Bache’s win gave Florida 11 straight victories against Florida State and a sweep in the season series against the Seminoles.
“It was the first time I’ve gone to FSU and been able to have an outing like that against them,” Bache said. “It really felt good.”
Contact Adam Lichtenstein at alichtenstein@alligator.org.
Taylor Schwarz prepares for the pitch during Florida’s 8-0 win against Arkansas on March 22 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
