KISSIMMEE, Fla – The University of Florida softball team recorded its sixth shutout in seven contests with yet another dominant pitching performance as the team downed Lehigh 5-0 on the final day of the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Gators (15-1) jumped out in front early over the Mountain Hawks (3-2) which allowed sophomore pitcher
Kelly Barnhill to settle into a groove early. Barnhill faced a total of 13 batters through four innings and recorded 11 strikeouts compared to just one walk with no hits.
Only one Mountain Hawk was able to put a bat on the ball against Barnhill and that was a bunt popped up to first baseman
Kayli Kvistad.
Florida took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of play on an RBI single from freshman
Jordan Roberts that fell harmlessly into shallow right center field. Redshirt freshman
Sophia Reynoso scored on the play after she smacked a one-out double to left field earlier in the inning.
In the fourth inning, freshman
Jaimie Hoover tallied her third home run of the season with a lead-off shot opposite field over the right center field wall.
Senior
Justine McLean scored for the Gators in the fifth inning via an RBI single through the right side of the Lehigh infield by sophomore
Amanda Lorenz.
During the Gators' final at-bat of the contest, Reynoso and McLean executed a suicide squeeze with one out on the board. Reynoso placed a perfect bunt in between the Mountain Hawks third baseman, catcher and pitcher while McLean streaked for home plate.
While no one reached for the ball to make a throw at first, Reynoso rounded the bag for second. After a hesitation, Reynoso forced a wild throw from Brianna Gerhardt over second base into center field which allowed Reynoso to score for the fifth run of the game.
Coaches Corner
On the pitching performances…
"I thought they both did a good job of getting ahead in the count and throwing quality pitches while being ahead in the count. That was the key for not only being successful today but successful all weekend."
On being aggressive on the bases today…
"You just have to take what you can get. In some cases we're going to be able to steal bases and others we're going to hit home runs; so you just have to take what you can get. I thought did we good job of taking advantage of our opportunities today."
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Notables
- The duo of Barnhill and Gourley tossed the Gators sixth one-hitter of the season. It is also the sixth shutout over the last seven games.
- The combined one-hitter is the first of the season and 22nd in program history with the last occurring on May 20, 2016 against Alabama State in NCAA Regional play.
- The Gators have not allowed an earned run in regulation play since Maryland Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Aquafina Invitational. Since then Florida has outscored opponents 39-1 over the last seven games. The lone run came in extra innings, top of the ninth, against Liberty.
- Barnhill upped her scoreless inning streak to 34.0 innings after allowing zero hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts.
- It's the longest career scoreless inning streak for Barnhill and longest career streak among active pitchers on the roster.
- Delanie Gourley earned her first save of the season with three quality innings of relief in the circle.
- Justine McLean recorded her third multiple steal game of the season with two against Lehigh. Mclean is now 9-for-9 on the season in stolen base attempts.
- Amanda Lorenz and Kayli Kvistad have extended their reached base streak to 16 games as the duo has reached safely in every game for the Gators this season.
- Sophia Reynoso is close behind with a 14 game reached base streak and also is riding a seven-game hitting streak.
Next Up
The Gators head to Fullerton, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 28 for the Judi Garman Classic. There the team will face Iowa, Long Beach State, Cal, UCLA and Northwestern to cap off the tournament season prior to SEC Opening Weekend.
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