The Florida softball team (18-10) lost its first game of the season to an instate foe Saturday night in the Stetson Tournament, as they fell to the host Hatters (16-3), 2-0. The Gators out hit the home team by one, but three of Stetson’s four hits came in the sixth inning for the win.

Florida freshman pitcher Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and the Florida defense retired 10 straight Stetson batters before walking Sherrel Fountain in the top of the fourth. The walk wouldn’t do any damage though as the Gators took care of the next two Hatters to end the inning.

Stetson broke open the scoring in the sixth. Nicole Forbes opened the frame with a base hit to right. A Fountain base hit through the right side put runners at first and second with only one out in the inning. Melissa Wiggins flew out to left for the second out, but Andrea Migliori would knock the third Hatter hit of the inning to left center and score both runners for the 2-0 Stetson lead.

Florida had a hit in every inning except the fourth, when junior Lacy Howard (League City, Texas) reached on an error, and the seventh, but was not able to push a run across. The Gators left six runners on in the loss. Five different Gators recorded Florida’s five hits, freshman Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.), sophomore Mary Ratliff (Lexington, Ky.) junior Lauren Roussell (Cerritos, Calif.) and seniors Lindsey Cameron (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Stacie Pestrak (Gainesville, Fla.),

Nelson took the loss for Florida to move her record to 6-4. Stetson pitcher Erica Demers remained undefeated with an 11-0 record.

Freshman Brooke Johnson (Lakeland, Fla.) recorded a career-high seven assists in the game defensively.

The Gators continue tournament play in DeLand on Sunday. Florida will take on Iowa State at 10 a.m. and then face Canisius in its final game of the tournament at 3 p.m.