The No. 24 Florida Softball team (38-19) swept Bethune-Cookman (29-27) in a doubleheader Wednesday evening at the Florida Softball Stadium. The Gators took the first game 7-0 and the second 7-2. The Gators tallied 20 hits on the night, nine of them being extra base hits, while giving up only eight.

Freshman Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) led off the Gator half of the first with a triple to left center. She came home on a senior Lindsey Cameron (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) double to left for a 1-0 Gator lead.

Florida took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Senior Stacie Pestrak (Gainesville, Fla.) led off with a double to left. Waleszonia followed with a bunt single, advancing Pestrak to third. Waleszonia moved to second on a Cameron sacrifice. Pestrak scored on a base hit to left by fellow senior Kristen Butler (Orlando, Fla.). Waleszonia advanced to third on the play and scored on a junior Lauren Roussell (Cerritos, Calif.) ground out.

In the fifth, Pestrak scored on a Cameron ground out to put Florida up by four runs.

Three Gator runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth gave the Gators a 7-0 lead. Roussell led off the inning with a base hit. Freshman Alicia Spack (West Lafayette, Ind.) came in to pinch run for her. Spack scored on a triple by junior Lacy Howard (League City, Texas). A junior Melissa Zick (Tampa, Fla.) double scored Howard. Junior Shelley Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.) pinch hit for senior Lindsay Norfleet (Madison, Fla.) and advanced Zick to third with a ground out to the pitcher. Zick scored on a Pestrak base hit to left field to give the Gators the 7-0 win.

Freshman Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) earned the win in the circle to improve her record to 12-10 on the season. She gave up only four hits and one walk, while striking out four Wildcat batters. Viveca Patterson took the loss for Bethune-Cookman to move her record to 20-15.

Florida took an early 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game two. With one out, Cameron grabbed a base hit. Butler doubled down the right line, advancing Cameron to third. A Zick single loaded the bases. Cameron came in to score and the other runners advanced on a wild pitch from Bethune-Cookman pitcher Alissa Noriega. Howard hit a RBI ground out to the Wildcat short stop to score Butler. Roussell walked. She advanced to second and Zick scored on a double steal, to put Florida ahead 3-0. Norfleet walked to put runners at first and second for freshman Brooke Johnson (Lakeland, Fla.). Johnson ripped a double to left field to score both runners. Pestrak knocked down her fourth hit of the day and advanced to second on a Wildcat error that allowed Johnson to score for the 6-0 lead.

Bethune-Cookman narrowed the Gators’ lead to four runs in the top of the third. Ariel Robinson hit a single with one out in the inning. She scored on a Tiffany Bowser double to left. Sarde Stewart drew a two-out walk from Florida junior pitcher Stacey Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.). Both

Runners advanced on a wild pitch. Bowser scored the Wildcats’ second run on a base hit by Andrea Thomas.

The Gators added their final run in the bottom of the fourth. Spack led off with a double. She scored on a Zick base hit for the 7-2 Gator win.

The game was called after the fifth inning due to severe weather in the Gainesville area.

Stevens pitched the complete game for the win, improving her record to 17-5. Noriega pitched 3.0 innings in the loss to move her record to 7-7. Alana Gaines pitched the final 2.0 innings.

Pestrak and Zick led the Gators with 4-for-6 performances on the night. Pestrak got all four of her hits in consecutive plate appearances, as she was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in game one and added a hit in her first at bat of game two. Zick’s four hits also came in consecutive plate appearances as she got her first hit in her last at bat of game one and went 3-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI in game two. Four other Gators, Cameron, Howard, Butler and Waleszonia had multiple hits on the night.

The Gators will play their final Southeastern Conference road series this weekend in Baton Rouge, La. Florida and LSU will face off in a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. Both games will be televised live on Cox Sports Television. Sunday’s single game also begins at 2 p.m. All three games of the series will be broadcast live on GatorZone.com via yahoo.com.