The No. 19 Florida Softball team lost its first two games of the
season at the Wilson/DeMarini Invitational in Houston, Texas
Friday afternoon. The Gators lost the first game 6-0 to Kansas and the second 5-4 to No. 22 Oregon.
Senior Lindsey Cameron (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.)
started the season off right for the Gators offense as she dropped a double in
left center in the first at bat of the season. She advanced to third on a Kansas error, but was
not able to cross the plate.
Kansas was plated
its first run of the game in the top of the second inning. Destiny Frankenstein
drew the leadoff walk from Florida freshman
pitcher Lindsay Littlejohn (Bartow, Fla.).
She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. A hit by Betsy Wilson that took a
bad bounce off second allowed Frankenstein to score from second and give the
Jayhawks a 1-0 lead.
Gator
miscues in the field in the top of the third gave Kansas a three-run lead.
The Gators
loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth on consecutive base hits by senior Lindsay Norfleet (Madison,
Fla.) and junior Shelley Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.) and a walk by senior Kristen Butler (Orlando,
Fla.), but they could not push
the run across the plate.
The
Jayhawks hit two homers out of the park in the sixth and added another run in
the seventh for the 6-0 victory.
Littlejohn
took the loss for the Gators in her first collegiate outing. She pitched four
innings, allowing two hits and three walks and giving up three runs, only one
was earned. Junior Stacey Stevens (Gainesville, Fla.)
pitched two innings in relief, giving up two runs. Sophomore Lisa Hasson (Seminole, Fla.) pitched the
seventh for the Gators. Kassie Humphreys earned the win for Kansas. She recorded 10 strikeouts and gave
up only one walk.
Oregon struck first in the bottom of the
first inning in the Gators second game of the day. Breanne Sabol hit a home run
to give her team the early 1-0 lead.
The Gators
came back to score their first runs of the season in the top of the third. Norfleet
led off the inning with a triple to right. Shelley Stevens followed with an
infield base hit to give the Gators runners at first and third. Norfleet
crossed the plate on a RBI ground out by senior Stacie Pestrak (Gainesville,
Fla.). Cameron hit a two-run homer
out in left center to put the Gators up 3-1.
Oregon tied the game in the bottom of the
fourth. Sabol hit her second home run of the game to bring the Ducks within one
run of the Gators. Four straight Oregon
hits scored Beth Boskovich to tie the game at 3-3.
The game
stayed knotted at three until the top of the seventh. Pestrak led off the inning
with a base hit back at the pitcher. Cameron reached on an error by the Oregon pitcher, allowing
Pestrak to advance to third. With one out and runners on second and third, Butler was intentionally walked to load the bases for
junior Melissa Zick (Tampa, Fla.).
Zick reached on an error by the Oregon
shortstop as Pestrak crossed the plate to put the Gators up 4-3.
Oregon came back to win the game in the
final half inning. Kristi Leiter led off the inning with a base hit through the
left side. She advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on a base hit by
Suzie Barnes. Barnes scored the winning run on a Florida error to win the game 5-4.
Freshman Stacey Nelson (Los
Alamitos, Calif.) took the loss
for Florida
in game two. She struck out three batters in 6.3 innings of work. Any Harris
pitched the last 1.1 innings in the win for Oregon.
Norfleet
led the Gators offensively on the day with a 3-for-6 performance with a triple
and a run scored in the two games. Shelley Stevens and Cameron were the other Gators
with multiple hits on the day. Stevens finished the day 2-for-5 with a run and
Cameron was 2-for-8 with a home run, a double, a run scored and two RBI.
“It was
tough to lose these to games today,” said Florida head coach Tim Walton. “The good
news is that there are a lot of games left in the season. We just need to make
plays. That is all it comes down to.”
Florida will get a rematch with Oregon tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Gators will
then face tournament host Houston at 3 p.m.
