Tonight’s extra-inning game for the Gators was the first of the season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The seventh-ranked Florida softball team fell, 4-2 (10 innings), to No. 2 Florida State in midweek action Wednesday evening at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The Gators (30-7) racked up nine hits and drew five walks, but the difference was a pair of timely hits late by the Seminoles (36-2) was the deciding factor in the extra-inning affair.
UF and FSU went blow for blow on runs scored as the teams traded single runs over several innings of action.
Fifth year Hannah Adams put the Gators on the board first in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a one-out RBI single up the middle that scored freshman Kendra Falby from second base. Falby led off the inning after she reached on a throwing error by Seminoles’ third baseman Sydney Sherrill.
Florida State responded in the top half of the 4th inning to tie the game 1-1 in similar fashion. Mack Leonard led off the inning with a single to center field and was pinch-ran for by D’Aun Riggs, who was eventually pushed across home plate via a Devyn Flaherty RBI single up the middle.
After a scoreless home half of the 4th and top of the 5th inning, the Gators pushed back and plated their second run of the inning to break the tie and gain a 2-1 lead. Redshirt-junior Skylar Wallace started frame with a single that slid through the middle of the Seminoles infield and she promptly stole second to move into scoring position.
Charla Echols went on to drive in Wallace later in the frame via a shot up the middle.
Again, Florida State responded in the top of the 6th inning to tie the game 2-2. This time it was Kalei Harding infield RBI single in the 5-6 hole scored Leonard from third base.
Neither team budged in the 7th inning of action, which sent the Gators to their first extra-inning game of the season.
Natalie Lugo (7-3) came in relief of starting pitcher Elizabeth Hightower with the game knotted up at 2-2 and worked a scoreless 8th and 9th innings, before Sherrill broke the tie with a leadoff home run to center field. FSU went on to score once more in the frame to take a 4-2 lead on sacrifice fly by Harding.
Kathryn Sandercock (19-0) picked up the win for FSU in relief as she entered the game 9th inning with the score tied.
The Gators step back into Southeastern Conference play this Saturday, April 9, at 5 p.m. (ET) against No. 4 Alabama. Saturday’s game will also serve as the program’s “Yellow Game” which aims to bring awareness to those who have fought and are still fighting pediatric cancer.
Notables:
* Skylar Wallace swiped her 31st and 32nd stolen base surpassing Michelle Moultrie (2011) for the third-most stolen bases in a single season.
* This marked her eighth game with at-least two stolen bases.
* Kendra Falby collected her team-leading 17th multi-hit game by doubling in the 1st inning and beating out an infield single in the 9th inning.
* The double was the freshman’s 10th extra-base hit.
* Charla Echols produced her sixth multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles up the middle and two walks.
* The senior’s second single drove Wallace in from second to give the Gators a 2-1 lead in the 5th inning.
* Reagan Walsh extended her hitting streak to six games by lacing a single to the third baseman in the 5th inning.
* The six-game hitting streak ties her career-high that she set from Feb. 13-19.
* Sam Roe notched the second multi-hit game of her career via a couple singles and finished 2-for-3.
* Both freshman’s multi-hit games have come in SEC play as the first was against Texas A&M (March 20).
* Hannah Adams improved her hitting streak to five games with an RBI single up the middle in the 3rd inning to put Florida up 1-0.
* The Gators stole three bases tonight making this the fifth game of the season the Gators have stolen at least three bases.
* This is the 1st game of the season that has gone into extra innings for the Gators. The Florida Gators are 83-41, 37-16 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
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