Gator Softball Ready for Challenge at Cathedral City Classic in California
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 | Softball
Coming off mid-week win over Sunshine State opponent Jacksonville and a series sweep over Michigan State from the Big Ten, the top-ranked Gator softball team will head west to California for what has become their annual competition in the Cathedral City Classic. Hosted by Oregon State University in Palm Springs, the tournament draws a number of teams full of Top-25 caliber talent.
This year's Cathedral City Classic pits the Gators against Top-25 teams in No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 5 Washington and No. 8 Texas, while the Gators will also face tough challenges against BYU and Boise State. Florida will face Texas A&M and Washington on Feb. 23, followed by BYU and Texas Feb. 24, and cap off its final day of competition in California Saturday with a morning match-up against Boise State Feb. 25.
Florida is 9-0 on the young season after opening undefeated at the 2012 USF-Fairfield Inn & Suites Tampa North Tournament, then hosting Jacksonville at home in a mid-week tilt, followed by sweeping Michigan State in the first three-game home series of the season last weekend.
With seven freshmen, four sophomores, four juniors and just one senior in Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.), the Gators have created a new identity. Full of speed, small ball, the ability to find the gap and still tons of power, Florida has become a multi-dimensional offensive force, evident in UF's statistics thus far.
The Orange and Blue secured UF's 700th program victory with its 11-1 win over the Spartans on Feb. 18 and set season game highs as a team in hits (14), walks (11), runs (15) and runs per inning (seven) over the weekend. The Gators have now scored 79 runs to opponents' nine, with 74 RBI, 88 hits, 12 doubles, four triples and 11 homers, good for a .407 team batting clip. UF has seven run-rule victories under its belt this season, including six five-inning wins, and five shutouts on the year.
With numerous stellar performances over the past weekend, including an astounding 11 Gators hitting over .333 through the past four games, several accolades highlighted two UF players' performances as junior Brittany Schutte (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and freshman Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) picked up SEC Player of the Week honors, Schutte as the Player of the Week and Haeger as the Freshman of the Week.
Just Tuesday, Schutte additionally garnered national attention for her outstanding performance, picking up NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Division I National Player of the Week honors, the first national weekly honor of her career.
Schutte strung together nine-consecutive hits for the Gators this past week after grounding out in her first at-bat against Jacksonville, but connecting in all of her at-bats since to lead the Gators through the past week of play with a .900 batting clip. The junior now leads the Gators this season with a .560 batting average and is currently on a five-game hit streak, having reached base in five-consecutive games through the weekend. Schutte leads UF in doubles, total bases, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and ranks second in hits, runs and RBI.
Haeger, a threat not only in the circle, but also at the plate, picked up two of UF's four wins last week to bring her to an undefeated 3-0. Haeger drove in a team-leading seven RBI from Wednesday to Sunday, with a team-tying two home runs. She now leads the UF squad with 15 RBI on the season and three long balls.
Haeger accounted for four of UF's eight runs in the Friday contest with the Spartans after being perfect at the plate with a RBI single, a sac fly and a two-run homer. In addition to her contributions against Jacksonville Wednesday and MSU Sunday at the plate, she also picked up her second and third victories in the circle, with 12 strikeouts in the two outings, including seven versus Jacksonville and five against Michigan State. Haeger allowed just four earned runs in the two decisions in 11.0 innings of work. The first-year Gator has reached base in all nine of Florida's games so far in 2012 and leads the team in multiple RBI games, with four.
Last year's Cathedral City Classic proved to be an exciting trip for the Gators, who defeated Indiana, No. 11/12 Texas, San Diego State, No. 2/2 UCLA and Utah en route to a school-record 24-0 start and a trip to their second national championship at the WCWS in Oklahoma City, Okla.
UF topped Texas, 6-5, in nine for its first extra innings win, while coming up with a big 4-1 victory over UCLA to cap off the weekend. The Gators most recently saw Texas A&M and Washington in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, defeating A&M at home in Regionals to keep advancing, while meeting Washington in the 2009 national championship series, when Washington won the first two games to take home the overall crown.
For the first time ever, Florida will clash with both BYU and Boise State in the first meetings between the schools.
Florida fans can keep track of this weekend's trip to California four different ways, including following the Gators on Twitter @GatorZoneSBall, on Facebook at University of Florida softball, via live online stats by GameTracker – found by visiting the schedule page on www.GatorZone.com/softball – or by tuning in live locally or online to 104.9, 105 The Game, with the call by Mike Gillespie and 2011 Gator All-American Megan Bush.
SCOUTING THE GATORS' CATHEDRAL CITY CLASSIC OPPONENTS
Feb. 23: Texas A&M and Washington
No. 16 Texas A&M: 8-2 overall this season, series tied 3-3, last meeting May 16, 2009 (UF 7, Texas A&M 1)
No. 5 Washington: 10-0 overall this season, Washington leads series 8-3, last meeting June 2, 2009 (Washington 3, Florida 2 – Washington wins national championship)
Feb. 24: BYU and Texas
BYU: 7-3 overall this season, Friday's game will mark the first meeting between the two programs
No. 8 Texas: 8-0 overall this season, Florida leads the series 4-2, last meeting Feb. 24, 2011 (Florida 6, Texas 5; 9 innings)
Feb. 25: Boise State
Boise State: 7-3 overall this season, Saturday's game will mark the first meeting between the two programs
