Kelly Barnhill worked herself out of an early jam against the Seminoles then pitched a complete-game gem en route to a 5-1 win.
Barnhill Bearing Down Better in 2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018 | Softball, Chris Harry
Junior Kelly Barnhill gave up just two hits Wednesday night in UF's 5-1, complete-game defeat of rival FSU.
UF coach Tim Walton was concerned, obviously, but locked in on Barnhill. Specifically, how she would respond to this rapid-fire dose of adversity. In the past — albeit rarely — one Barnhill mistake sometimes had been followed by another.
This time?
Barnhill struck out Cali Harrod looking, got Elizabeth Mason to pop out to third, then blew one past Anna Shelnut, bat still on her shoulder, to work cleanly out of the mess.
In the dugout, Walton sought out his standout junior pitcher.
"One of your best emotional bounce backs," he said.
And with that, Barnhill proceeded to throw a seven-inning gem against No. 8 FSU that ended with a 5-1 victory for fifth-ranked UF, which avenged a loss in Tallahassee two weeks ago to earn a split in the season's series with their rival in front of a boisterous crowd at Pressly Stadium. Make that eight straight wins for the Gators (42-7), with seven of them coming against ranked opponents. Florida will taken that momentum into its weekend Southeastern Conference home series against LSU, which starts Friday. The Gators, at 15-3 in league play, have a two-game advantage on second-place Georgia with two weekends of SEC games remaining.
With the big month of May (and postseason) bearing down, UF has a lot of things working in its favor, including a certain flamethrower in the circle. The one that wears the protective mask.
"She's amazing," junior outfielder Amanda Lorenz said.
Barnhill put together one of the most dominant seasons in college softball history a year ago when she went 26-4, averaged 9.7 strikeouts per game and pitched to an absurd 0.51 ERA. This season, Barnhill is averaging just under eight strikeouts per game and has an ERA of 0.82, but the win Wednesday put her record at 22-1.
"Statistically, one would argue last year was one of the best years you could ever have, but I think having that target on her back and everyone having their best preparation week for her that she's done a really good job," Walton said. "She's mixed up her rise ball a little bit better. She's obviously given up a lot more runs and home runs this year, but I think the overall body of work, day in and day out, has been better."
Her focus has, also.
What happened in the second inning was a good example.
"It's one of those things, like throwing a bad pitch," Barnhill said. "You've got to go to the next pitch. You can't let what happened in the past affect what you do [next]."
She might as well might have been echoing the words of her coach. Walton had seen home runs, wild pitches, back-to-back couple walks, an error, or an illegal pitch get in Barnhill's head and stay there for a few batters. That's what made the early sequence against the Seminoles make him so proud.
"She didn't seem to overdue it. She just went out and threw the pitches she was capable of throwing," Walton said. "I thought she did a really good job of maintaining her composure."
Fair assessment. Barnhill faced 20 batters after her throwing error, retired 14 of the ensuing 16 batters, fanning seven of them. The game was still scoreless, however, when the Gators came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. That's when the home team — keyed by big hits from Lorenz, Nicole DeWitt and a bases-loaded double by Sophia Reynoso — scored five times to take a 5-0 lead to the Seminoles' seventh.
The first batter Barnhill faced was Warren, who promptly skied the first pitch of the inning well over the center field wall for a mammoth home run that broke up the shutout.
"She came back and showed her composure," Walton said.
Yeah.
She struck out the side.
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