The Gators travel to Tallahassee, Fla. Wednesday, April 26, to take on the Seminoles for their fourth-straight Top 5 matchup.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 14th-ranked Florida softball team heads to Tallahassee, Fla. Wednesday, April 26, for its annual Sunshine Showdown contest against No. Florida State at JoAnne Graf Field. The midweek clash is set to start at 6 p.m. (ET) and will stream on ACC Network Extra.
The Gators (32-14) are coming off a three-game Saturday, Sunday and Monday series against No. 3 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. and will make the quick turnaround to play the fourth-ranked Seminoles (38-8) today.
UF might have dropped the series 0-3 to the Lady Vols, but the Orange & Blue offense showed why it was the Southeastern Conference leader in overall batting average (.329) as the team put up a total of 17 runs against one of the nation’s top pitching staffs.
The offense will need to continue its production tonight as they will likely face another top ranked pitching staff in FSU. The Seminoles rank 11th nationally and second in the ACC with a 1.68 ERA as a staff. Individually, Makenna Reid and Kathryn Sandercock lead the way ranking seventh (0.93 ERA) and ninth (1.10 ERA) respectively in the national rankings.
Florida’s offense is spearheaded by redshirt-junior Skylar Wallace as she enters this week after another solid series of performances at the plate. The Woodstock, Ga. native batted .615 (8-for-13) with seven runs scored, seven RBI and hit three home runs, which included one each off of UT’s Ashley Rogers, Payton Gottshall and Karlyn Pickens. The performance garnered Wallace her second consecutive D1Softball.com National Player of the Week award.
Joining Wallace with a solid week at the plate was junior Emily Wilkie who hit .444 (4-for-9) with a pair of home runs and five RBI. The Cumming, Ga. native started the week with a walk-off grand slam against USF last Wednesday and capped the weekend with a solo home run off Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens in the series finale.
Overall, Florida has six batters hitting at or above the .300 mark this year as Kendra Falby (.387), Charla Echols (.358), Regan Walsh (.347), Sam Roe (.313) and Kaila Pollard (.313) have made significant contributions to the Gators success this season.
That production has led UF to be nationally ranked eighth in batting average, fourth in on base percentage, fifth in scoring, fifth in walks and 11th in slugging percentage.
Florida State’s offense is led by Jahni Kerr (.357), Kaley Mudge (.333), Hallie Wacaser (.330), Katie Dack (.330), Devyn Flaherty (.322), Kalei Harding (.314) and Mack Leonard (.300), who are all hitting above a .300 clip.
After the conclusion of today’s midweek, the Gators will return back home to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium for a three-game SEC series against Ole Miss this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s game will recognize the remaining UF seniors after Trlicek and Bryn Thomas were recognized during the Saturday game against Georgia.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
FloridaGators.com<http://www.floridagators.com/softball/>
Florida Softball on Twitter<http://twitter.com/GatorsSB>
Head Coach Tim Walton on Twitter<https://twitter.com/_TimWalton>
Florida Softball on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/GatorsSB>
