GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 13
th-ranked Florida softball program heads to Knoxville, Tenn. for a top 15 Southeastern Conference series against No. 4 Tennessee this Saturday at 4 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m. and Monday at 7 p.m. at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
The Gators (32-11, 8-7 SEC) series against the Lady Volunteers (35-5, 12-2 SEC) will be their third consecutive ranked conference series of the year, while four of the six total series have been against ranked conference foes. UF holds the lead in the all-time series 54-31 and won the last meeting, 4-0, during the 2022 season in Gainesville.
It's the first meeting between the two programs in Knoxville since the 2017 season, where the Gators took the series 2-1.
The Orange & Blue enters the weekend after taking its latest conference series, 2-1, against then ranked No. 12 Georgia and dispatched USF, 7-3, in walk-off fashion to end an eight-game homestand. The midweek walk-off against the Bulls was capped by junior
Emily Wilkie's grand slam with one out in the bottom of the 7
th inning.
The Cumming, Ga. native's late inning smash was the second grand slam of her career and tied her career-highs in hits (2) and RBI (4). Earlier in the game
Reagan Walsh belted her fifth home run of the season en-route to a 3-for-4 night at the plate, which tied her career-high in hits (3).
The walk-off was the Gators fourth of the season and the first since the 3-2 extra-inning win over Auburn at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium at the beginning of the month.
The Gators offense that ranks at the top or near the top of most all offensive categories will go against the Lady Vols pitching staff that ranks at the top of nearly every pitching category. The Orange & Blue bring a league-best batting average of .334 compared to Tennessee's league-best 1.20 ERA.
Skylar Wallace leads the league with an overall .471 batting average, while UT's Ashley Rogers (13-1) leads the SEC with an overall 0.75 ERA. Wallace and the Gators.
Wallace played at an elite level in the series against Georgia last weekend to help the Gators take the first two games of the series 13-4 (6 innings) and 8-7 in game two. The Woodstock, Ga. native was 6-for-7 (.857) in the series with four home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored, six walks and was 3-for-3 on stolen bases.
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The trio of performances coupled with her midweek effort against UNF landed the talented shortstop her third SEC Player of the Week award in addition to being named the national Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week.
Wallace leads an offensive group that ranks sixth in the nation in scoring with 7.12 runs per game, ninth in slugging percentage (.554), third in walks (178) and second in on base percentage (.438).
Kendra Falby (.398),
Reagan Walsh (.360),
Charla Echols (.355),
Sam Roe (.322),
Kaila Pollard (.313),
Avery Goelz (.311) and
Pal Egan (.310) are all batting over .300 on the season.
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