Wild Weekend for Gators Sports

The Florida Gators have had an active weekend in sports as softball, lacrosse, track and field and golf all showed their true strength in their respective matches.

Gators Softball Dominate the Bulls in a Season-Opening Doubleheader

The University of Florida Softball started their season off strong as they swept the University of South Florida Bulls in their season-opening doubleheader on Saturday.

In their first game at 4:15 p.m., the Gators beat the Bulls by the score of 6-3. In their second game that day at 6:15 p.m., the Gators continued to show their strength over the Bulls shutting them out by the score of 15-0.

The Gators pitching performance was nothing but powerful as both Katie Chronister and Elizabeth Hightower effectively shut down the Bulls offense. Chronister came in to relieve Natalie Lugo in the 4th inning of the first game and shut down the Bulls offense. In the second game, Hightower struck out seven and held the Bulls to an underwhelming one hit in her four innings of play.

The Gators cranked out 15 runs on 14 hits in tonight's game two win against USF!! Check out the highlights! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/ROLMokmJrX

— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) February 14, 2021

The Gators offense performed just as well as their pitching as they had a total of 24 hits in the doubleheader. This impressive total included six doubles, a triple and two home runs.

The series finale which was schedule for Sunday has been postponed to a later date due to inclement weather.

Gators Lacrosse Defeats Louisville in Season Opener

The No. 8 Florida Gators Lacrosse team kicked off their season strong with a 14-7 on-the-road victory over the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday.

Gators offense was strong as well as balanced as five players scored at least two goals throughout the match-up. Seniors Kassidy Bresnahan and Shannon Kavanagh were both leaders on the scoreboard, as each recorded a hat trick. Grace Haus, Paisley Eagan and Maggi Hall followed on the scoreboard as each player posted two goals of their own. During this match-up Kavanagh reached the benchmark of 200 career points.

https://twitter.com/GatorsLAX/status/1360997231533424650?s=20

The Gators will travel to face No. 1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Gators Track and Field Stays Atop Charts

On Saturday, the Gators Track and Field team strong performance in this year’s Tyson Invitational featured five NCAA top-10 performances, including two world top-10 times. The Tyson Invitational took place inside the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Freshman Talitha Diggs started the invitational off strong for the Gators after crossing in 22.94 seconds in the 200 meters. This time was not only a new personal-best for Diggs, but her time is the fifth-fastest in the NCAA, the eighth-fastest in the world and the second-fastest in UF history.

https://twitter.com/GatorsTF/status/1360684436782804992?s=20

Following Diggs record-breaking performance, Joseph Fahnbulleh added additional records for the Florida team. After finishing the 200-meter sprint in 20.42 seconds, Fahnbulleh’s record-breaking time was not only the No. 4-ranked time on UF’s Indoor All-Time Top 10 list, but also the second-fastest time in the NCAA and in the world.

The Gators will return to Fayetteville, Arkansas for this year’s SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place from February 25 to February 27.

Florida Men’s Golf Claims Title at Home

The Florida men’s golf team dominated in the final round of the Gators Invitational over the weekend and claimed their second title of 2021 as well as their second win at home.

https://twitter.com/JoePagdinGolf/status/1361337800709259264?s=20

The Florida team will return to action at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is set to start Feb. 26.