Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 1-ranked University of Florida softball team split a pair of contests on the second day of the Aquafina Invitational at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The team dropped its first game of the season against Maryland but roared back to defeat Northwestern State 10-0 (5) immediately after.

The Gators (9-1) defeated Northwestern State (4-4) in their second game of the day behind another solid pitching effort from sophomore Kelly Barnhill in the circle and at the plate from redshirt freshman Sophia Reynoso.

Reynoso went 3-for-3 in the contest with three RBIs and a run scored that included a triple and a double. Barnhill (3-0) tossed five innings for Florida in the winning effort with nine strikeouts through 19 batters faced.

Florida scored in every inning of the contest against the Lady Demons except for the third. The big inning came in the fifth and final inning of play where the Gators posted five runs on just a pair of hits. Freshman Jordan Roberts highlighted the inning with her first collegiate home run of her career.

Kayli Kvistad opened up the scoring against Northwestern State in the first with her double to left center field. Nicole DeWitt scored on the play after a hit by pitch with two outs.

In the second inning, Reynoso warmed up her bat for the afternoon with an RBI double deep down the left field line that caromed around the corner of the field to push Ocasio across home plate.

In the first game of the day, Florida jumped out in front early 2-0 in the bottom of the first after Aleshia Ocasio produced an RBI single that scored DeWitt from third base. Ocasio then rounded first and found herself caught in a rundown that resulted in bad throw from the Terps second baseman Sami Main, which allowed Kvistad to score for the Gators second run of the inning.

Maryland (1-8) found a way in the fourth and the fifth innings to overtake Florida in the contest. Skylnne Ellazar scored Maryland's first run of the game off a Kristina Dillard RBI hit to right center. Dillard later scored in the inning on a SAC fly to center field by Aughinbaugh. Hernderson capped off the scoring in the inning with an infield RBI single Reynoso at short.

In the top of the fifth, the Terps posted one more run in the contest to stretch its lead out to 4-2 thanks to a Madison Martin single to left field that scored Elizar.

Florida made a valiant effort to erase the deficit and regain the lead after the team loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning but in the midst of a Maryland pitching change the rain began to fall heavily at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium which prompted an immediate halt in play. The delay nearly lasted a total of an hour and half.

Martin, the Maryland hurler, came out of the delay to retire the next pair of Florida batters.

The Gators kept pressing in the final inning of play and nearly forced the contest into extra innings as Lorenz and Kvistad worked their way into scoring position. However, Maryland managed its way through the next two Florida batters to end the threat.

COACHES CORNER
On finishing the Aquafina Invitational tomorrow against FIU…
"We're playing a good team, FIU swings the bat very well. I think if we if we come out and play them in the style of play that we play - pitch well, play good defense and find a way to get timely hit - then we've got we've got a great chance to win.

If we pitch the way we're supposed to pitch, play solid defense and just find a way to get that one hit that we need. Then we're going have a good game."

NOTABLES

• Kvistad, DeWitt and Lorenz have reached base safely in every game so far this season.
• Kvistad, Ocasio and Roberts are all currently riding four game hitting streaks for the Gators.
• Sophia Reynoso was a home run away from hitting the cycle in the Gators game against Northwestern State.
  • Double (2^nd), Triple (4^th) and a Single (5^th)
• Barnhill threw her four-career one-hitter and her second of the season against Northwestern State (Feb. 18, 2017).
  • She has not allowed a run in 18.1 innings pitched. The last and only run given up was against then-No. 6 Michigan on Feb. 11.
• There was a rain delay at 1:15 p.m. in the bottom of the sixth inning against Maryland with one out and the bases loaded for Florida pinch hitter Janell Wheaton. Play resumed at 2:44 p.m.
• Last loss in a preseason tournament contest in Gainesville at KSP Stadium occurred on Feb. 18, 2007, in a 4-3 decision against No.24/RV N.C. State in the Cox Communications Classic.

 
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