The Florida softball team (28-12,
7-5 SEC) sealed the series against the Auburn Tigers (23-10, 6-6 SEC) with a
5-0 shut out at the Florida Softball Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The Gators
used four runs in the bottom of the fourth on at two-hit inning that saw
freshman Kim Waleszonia(Fontana, Calif.) notch her second career triple. Junior
Stacey Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.)
earned the complete-game win, giving up just three hits on the day.
The Gators
grabbed a 1-0 lead in their half of the third inning when Waleszonia
came home on an RBI by senior Kristen
Butler (Orlando, Fla.). To start the inning, Waleszonia notched her third double of the season with a
hit to left field. Butler
nailed her hit down the left-field line to bring Waleszonia
home and give the Gators the edge.
Florida boosted its lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth on an
offensive spurt that started with Waleszonia’s triple
that brought junior Shelley Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.) and
freshman Brooke Johnson (Lakeland,
Fla.) across the plate. Designated player Mary
Ratliff (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) began the inning by reaching first base
on an error. Stevens came in as a pinch runner and moved to second after
Johnson was hit by a pitch. Senior Stacie
Pestrak (Gainesville,
Fla.) then moved the runners to
second and third on a sacrifice hit to the pitcher, and Waleszonia
followed with the second triple of her career, increasing her RBI count to 14
for the year. The Tigers brought in Beth DiPietro to
relieve Holly Currie in the circle. DiPietro sent Roussell to first on a walk. Freshman Alicia Spack (West Lafayette, Ind.)
replaced Roussell at first as a pinch runner,
stealing second base to place runners on second and third again. Continuing the
momentum, Butler smacked a single to right field
to knock in Waleszonia, and senior Lindsey Cameron (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.)
hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Spack to cap
off the inning’s scoring.
Waleszonia
finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Gators. Butler went 2-for-3 with
two RBI.
Stevens
struck out five in her second shut out of the season to improve her record to
11-2. Currie took the loss for Auburn
to make her record 13-5.
The Gators
return to Southeastern Conference action April 1 when they take on the Mississippi
State Bulldogs in Starkville,
Miss. in a 2 p.m. ET
doubleheader.
