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Florida’s offense showed out at Day 2 of the Littlewood Classic.
The No. 4 Gators (10-0) scored 25 combined runs against San Diego and Utah State in two five-inning wins Saturday.
UF’s 10 straight wins already surpassed the start to the season it had in 2018. That team started out 8-0 before it dropped a Sunday game against Louisiana-Lafayette.
That's another WIN for the Gators!! We play again at 6:30 (ET) against Utah State pic.twitter.com/gexbGHmLvH
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) February 16, 2019
Hot at the Plate
The Gators recorded double-digit hits in both games on Saturday. They registered 15 hits against San Diego including multi-hit games by five different Gator players. Sophia Reynoso and Amanda Lorenz led the way against the Toreros as they combined to go 5-for-7 with five RBIs and two runs scored.
The redshirt junior shortstop Reynoso even picked up her first stolen base of the season against San Diego. She only had one in 2018 after swiping 13 bags in her 2017 campaign.
Against Utah State, Florida racked up 11 hits with four multi-hit games by Florida players. This time, it was Jaimie Hoover and Kendyl Lindaman who directed the fireworks. They went 5-for-6 with seven RBIs, four runs scored and two home runs.
Lindaman, a transfer from Minnesota, hit one of those two home runs. It was the first four-bagger in her Gator career.
At least 15 different Gators reached on a base knock over both games that included six extra-base hits.
The two Jordans, Roberts and Matthews, had noteworthy performances against Utah State. Roberts went 1-for-1 with 3 RBIs and Matthews reached on three walks in five at-bats.
https://twitter.com/GatorsSB/status/1096919878789787648
Gator Freshmen in the Circle
Head Coach Tim Walton let his two young pitchers get some work in on Saturday. Danni Farley and Elizabeth Hightower both threw complete games and combined for 13 strikeouts, nine hits and just four earned runs against.
Hightower had the better of the two outings. She wrung up 10 Utah State batters and allowed only one earned run on two hits. With those starts on Saturday, both Farley and Hightower picked up the first wins in their Gator careers.
She even started the day with three perfect innings where she struck out six Aggies batters.
The college softball world: “thank goodness Barnhill is graduating, now we don’t have to worry about a Florida pitcher tearing apart our order.”
*true freshmen goes three perfect innings and finishes with 10 strikeouts in her first start.*
Gator fans:
— Ryan Urquhart (@Ryan_Urq) February 17, 2019
After Sunday, the Gators will be back in Florida to face off Jacksonville on Wednesday.
