GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 16
th-ranked Florida softball team steps back into Southeastern Conference action for its final regular season series of the 2023 season with a three-game set against Kentucky this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at John Cropp Stadium.
The Gators (37-14, 10-11 SEC) are set to take on the Wildcats (28-18-1, 8-13 SEC) during the regular season for the first time since the 2021 season. The Orange & Blue took the series in Gainesville, 2-1, behind a pair of 3-1 victories in games one and two, before falling in the series finale 4-2 (9 innings) in an extra-inning affair.
UF's most recent meeting outside of the regular season came in the 2022 SEC Tournament where the Gators won 9-3 over the Wildcats.
Florida enters the weekend matchup after it fell 8-7 in a midweek thriller against No. 3 Florida State. UF belted three home runs in the contest with two from the bat of 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 10 Finalist
Skylar Wallace and a two-run shot by senior
Sarah Longley.
Kentucky enters the weekend after it suffered a series sweep in Starkville, Miss. to Mississippi State. UK fell 6-2 in game one, 12-6 in game two and 7-4 in the series finale to the Bulldogs.
This season Florida's offense has been as proficient as most in recent years and are led at the plate by Wallace. As of May 2, the Woodstock, Ga. native is the only player in the nation currently with 60-plus runs scored, 55-plus hits and 50-plus RBI.
Fellow teammate
Charla Echols currently ranks fifth nationally and first in the SEC in total RBI with 59 heading into the weekend against Kentucky. Echols has produced 50 or more RBI in her last three seasons as a Gator.
Also making a mark in SEC play are sophomores
Reagan Walsh and
Kendra Falby. Falby holds a .313 batting average in conference play with 11 runs scored and six stolen bases, while Walsh is batting .302 with 19 RBI, 10 runs scored, four doubles and a pair of home runs.
Overall on the season Falby is batting .399 (63-of-158), while Walsh is hitting .342 (48-of-140).
As a team, the Florida offense is batting .327 on the season, which ranks second most all-time in program history. In addition, the Orange & Blue has posted its third highest slugging percentage in program history (.545), sixth highest on base percentage (.431) and third highest stolen base percentage (.929). The program also has cracked the top 10 in triples (13 – T-7
th) and home runs (61 – T-9
th)
Individually, Wallace is on pace for a historic season in the Florida record book. The redshirt-junior is batting .461 on the year, which is above Michelle Moultrie's single-season record of .443 that she set in 2011 and Wallace is currently on pace to break the single-season records for slugging (1.055) and on base percentage (.602). Currently the record for slugging is held by Brittany Schutte (.780) in 2010 and Amanda Lorenz set the record for on-base percentage (.582) in 2018.
Wallace is also threatening to make a run at the single-season home run record that was set by Schutte in 2011, when she hit 22 longballs.
After the conclusion of this weekend's series, the Gators will head to Fayetteville, Ark. for the 2023 SEC Softball Tournament. The tournament is set to take place from Tuesday, May 9, through Saturday, May 13.
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