I know it’s not about the Gators, but FSU just lost their first game of the season 7-5 to Pitt. Only Oklahoma and Alabama remind undefeated.
Gator softball finished the pre-conference part of their schedule 21-1 with a 5 inning 8-0 run rule win over Georgia State. Lexie Delbrey picked up her 7th win with a 1 hitter on 7 K's, although she did walk 3, hit 2 and had a wild pitch. The Gator offense had 11 hits, led by Hannah Adams 2-2 with an RBI, Avery Goelz 2-3 with an RBI and Sam Roe's hit and 2 RBI, including the game ender. The Gators are off until Saturday, when they host Mississippi State for a Sat., Sun., Mon. series, with all games on the SEC Network. Hopefully we will have Hightower & Lugo at full strength to start the SEC campaign.
Just some softball stats as the team gets ready to start play in the brutal SEC. The Gators' team batting average is .372, led by Kendra Falby at .514, Skylar Wallace at .484, Hannah Adams at .471, Katie Kistler at .421, Avery Goelz at .356, Cheyenne Lindsey at .353, Charla Echols at .323 and Reagan Walsh at .303. They have scored 173 runs to their opponents 34, have 215 hits, 17 HR and 151 RBI, plus 80 walks and only 57 strikeouts. Echols leads them in RBI with 28, Wallace has 24 and Walsh 23. On the mound, their team ERA is 1.45, giving up 72 hits in 140 innings, issuing 70 walks, 13 hit batters and 16 wild pitches, holding opponents to a .148 batting average. Lexie Delbrey leads in innings pitched at 48, with an ERA of 1.90 and a 7-1 record. Natalie Lugo has thrown 32 innings, with a team leading 0.43 ERA and a 5-0 record. Elizabeth Hightower has thrown 28.1 innings, with a 0.99 ERA and a 5-0 record.
One other stat that has to be mentioned - Gators have stolen 64 bases in 70 attempts; Wallace is 20-20, Falby is 20-21, Adams is 11-13. As Canned Heat once sang, "Speed Kills!!"
The speed should translate to the SEC but other than that, we played only two ranked opponents so I'm not sure how much our stats really tell. OTOH, we beat both ranked opponents. While the pitching is sort of suspect, it seems like we have something special this year that could take us far. Go Gators!
It's true we haven't played the number of ranked opponents we used to play when we made those trips to the West Coast early on. But Duke is now ranked #7, Michigan is ranked #16 and USF is #23. USF might not have been ranked when we beat them, but they are now, so that should count. And we'll get tested plenty soon enough, as 7 SEC teams besides us are in the Top 25, plus FSU is a Top 5 team. Should be a fun year, but pitching will be the key.
Last week we had to worry about the absence of Hightower this week Lugo. I think reaching the CWS without the two of them is remote. Does anyone know the status of Lugo?
UF opens their SEC schedule Saturday at Noon, then Sunday at 4 pm and Monday at 7 pm hosting Mississippi State. All games are on the regular SEC Network. The Bulldogs come into the series 15-8. Their best win is 11-3 over Georgia Tech. They have losses to Oklahoma, UCLA (both run rule shutouts), Loyola Marymount, Southern Illinois, Central Arkansas, Georgia Tech, South Alabama and Furman. Their team batting average is .313, scoring just over 6 runs per game. They have one of the best hitters in the country in Mia Davidson, .426, 11 HR, 26 RBI. Their team ERA is 2.16, with 162 K's and 59 walks. This will be a good opening conference test for the Gators, with Texas A&M and Tennessee up next on their schedule.
Gator softball (22-1, 1-0) opened SEC play today by beating Mississippi State 8-4. AA Elizabeth Hightower was shaky in the circle, pitching 4 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks and throwing 2 wild pitches, one of which gave the Bulldogs their first run. UF trailed 3-0 going to the bottom of the 4th when Cheyenne Lindsay led off with a double, Avery Goelz singled, Lindsay scored on a wild pitch and Kendra Falby got a 2-out RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2. Lexie Delbrey (8-1) pitched solid 5th and 6th innings and in the bottom of the 5th the Gators exploded for 6 runs to take the lead. Skylar Wallace led off with a single, Charla Echols doubled, Lindsay singled, Sam Roe tripled (should have been ruled an error), Katie Kistler doubled, Hannah Adams singled and Wallace ended the scoring with a 2 RBI single. Delbrey was relived by Marissa Mesiemore in the top of the 7th with the bases loaded and no outs. Mesiemore walked in a run before getting to pop out and double play to end the game. The Gators outhit the Bulldogs 14-7, but committed 2 errors and had a couple other misplays that were uncharacteristic of UF softball. The teams play again on Sunday at 4 pm on the SEC Network.
