Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Too bad Julia Cottrill transferred to Oklahoma State. She's an excellent hitter and could throw runners out trying to steal. Roe is only 18 and Wilkie just isn't as good as Cottrill, offensively or defensively. Also, the injury to Baylee Goddard very early on has hurt the offense as well. But these ladies need to rebound, put today's game behind them and figure out a way to win Sunday.

 

Yeah that 2014 team didn't seem nearly as strong as some of their previous World Series teams. But they came together at the right time and Hannah Rogers pitched her best ball of the year in Oklahoma City. Could happen again.

 

Freshman Lexie Delbrey getting the Sunday start for Florida vs. Lexi Kilfoyl for Alabama. Kendra Falby being moved back to #9 in the batting order, Sam Roe catching and batting 5th. Delbrey is 9-2 on the year with 1 save. She's thrown 65 innings with an ERA of 2.48, 33 hits, 38 walks, 85 K's and 8 HR's allowed. Kilfoyl is 7-2 in 62.2 innings pitched, 1.90 ERA, 48 hits, 26 walks, 59 K's and 5 HR's allowed. Gators need this win big time.

 

Well, Gator softball continued their inability to hit with runners in scoring position and lost to Alabama 2-1 in 9 innings Sunday. Florida drops to 30-9, 7-7 in the SEC, while Bama goes to 33-5, 10-4 in the SEC. Freshman Lexie Delbrey had a no-hitter going for 5.2 innings, but gave up a 2-out triple, a walk and a double to give Bama a 1-0 lead. The runner on 1st was thrown out at the plate trying to score their 2nd run by Skylar Wallace. Wallace led off the bottom of the 6th with a HR to tie the game. Natalie Lugo relieved Delbrey in the 7th and gave up a solo HR in the top of the 9th. In the bottom of the inning, Cheyenne Lindsey led off with a single and Montana Fouts relived Bama starter Lexi Kilfoyl and retired the next 3 batters to end the game. The Gators had runners in 1st & 2nd in the 3rd and 4th innings, but couldn't get a big hit. Lindsey led off the bottom of the 7th and was moved to 2nd on a ground out, moved to 3rd on another ground out and was left stranded when pinch hitter Emily Wilkie struck out. In the bottom of the 8th, Hannah Adams led off with a single, but never moved from there as Wallace lined out, Echols struck out and Reagan Walsh grounded out. This was a nail biting pitcher's duel and freshman Lexie Delbrey pitched great. Lugo was Lugo, giving up 2 base hits and a walk, but getting out of those jams until finally leaving a change-up hanging that got taken out of the park, just like she did in extra innings against FSU Wednesday night. But this loss, like the FSU loss, cannot be put on the pitching. This was solely a failure of Gator hitters to have productive outs and deliver an RBI when they had chances. Monday night is a gut-check, pride game to try to salvage something from this series, as they will have all week to re-group before heading to Ole Miss for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday matchup.

 

The problem is that after you use up either Roe or Wilkie, whichever doesn't start, as a pinch hitter, there's no one left to go to if you need a 2nd pinch hitter. Longley, Kinsey Goelz (4 at bats, 1 HBP, 2 K's, no hits), Mia Buffano (0 at Bats), Bryn Thomas (9 at bats, 3 K's 1 hit), Marissa Mesiemore (3 at bats, 1 HBP, 2 K's), Christina Wellen (0 at bats) or Cali Decker (5 at bats, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's) are the rest of the bench. Decker would be the obvious choice and not sure why she's not getting more playing time unless her hand injury is still a problem.

 

Just some info. I researched to pass along. In 2014, our 1st softball national title year, the Gators were 55-12, 15-9 in the SEC. They were undefeated in their pre-conference schedule, but lost their opening SEC game to Ole Miss. They lost a game to LSU the following week, then lost 2 out of 3 to Alabama their 3rd week. Tennessee then swept them and they followed that with a loss to FSU. They then swept Auburn and Texas A&M before losing 2 of 3 to Missouri and sweeping Arkansas to end the regular season. They lost the opening game of the SEC tournament to Georgia, easily won their NCAA Regional and took 2 of 3 from Washington to win the Super Regional. But they caught lightning in a bottle in Oklahoma City, beating Baylor 11-0, Oregon 4-0, Baylor again 6-3 and Alabama 5-0 and 6-3 to win the title. Team ERA was 2.52. Senior Hannah Rogers did the bulk of the pitching, throwing over 1/2 the total innings played, finishing with a 30-8 record, 2.06 ERA giving up 158 hits, 63 walks and 167 K's. Freshman Delanie Gourley had the next most innings with 107, a 3.43 ERA, 80 hits, 47 walks and 127 K's. Junior Lauren Haeger threw 98 innings, 2.30 ERA, 67 hits, 20 walks and 69 K's. No truly dominating pitcher, but a good mix that put it all together at tournament time. The team batting average was .313, led by sophomore Kelsey Stewart at .438, senior Stephanie Tofft at .356, junior Brianna Little at .320 and junior Lauren Haeger at .317. Rounding out the starters were sophomore Kirsti Merritt, freshman Justine McLean, sophomore Aubree Munro and sophomore Taylor Schwarz. Junior Bailey Castro, freshman Chelsea Herndon and sophomore Taylore Fuller, also contributed off the bench. They did hit 89 HR's and stole 116 of 130 stolen base attempts, averaging just under 7 runs per game.
By comparison, the 2022 team ERA is 2.20 with all 6 of our pitchers having a better ERA than did Delanie Gourley, with Hightower & Delbrey having almost the same ERA as did Haeger. Offensively our 2022 team batting average is .326, with 2 players hitting over .400 and 3 more hitting above .340. Yet we're scoring almost a run less per game than the 2014 team and only have 27 HR's in 39 games vs the 2014 team's 89 HR's in 67 games. 2022 team is 91-102 in stolen bases with 16 games, I think, left in the regular season.
Is there a point? Not really. Just found it all interesting to compare and see for myself that this year's team is statistically similar to the 2014 team and even better in some respects. They just need to put it together and get hot down the stretch like that team did. The 2014 team was 45-11 when the NCAA tournament started and went 10-1 from that point on. Who knows whether or not the 2022 team can do that, but it's possible.

 

Good info. Very revealing stats that show it's not just a problem with the freshmen. If those 4 veterans had been putting up last year's stats this year, we would have several more wins, no doubt.