Florida has now won 10-straight SEC regular season series dating back to 2020.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 4 Florida softball team clinched the series over Mississippi State with a 3-0 victory Monday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The Gators (23-2, 2-1 SEC) were powered by precision fielding, along with speed and power at the plate late in the game to earn the first SEC series win of the season over the Bulldogs (16-10, 1-2 SEC).
Senior right-handed pitcher Elizabeth Hightower (6-0) went the distance for her 11th career complete-game shutout. The Monticello, Fla. native struck out three and allowed only one walk with four hits over the 7.0 innings of work.
Florida’s defense corralled everything else to secure the program’s 10th shutout of the season. The defensive highlight of the game came from sophomore left fielder Katie Kistler as she fired a laser to catcher Emily Wilkie at home to retire the Bulldogs best chance to score in the contest in the top of the 6th inning.
In the following frame, freshman Kendra Falby flashed her speed and dazzled the crowd at KSP Stadium when she notched an inside-the-park home run. Falby stood in the box and blasted the 1-2 offering from Aspen Wesley (4-3) off the padding in left center field and then raced around the bases to give the Gators a 1-0 lead.
Hannah Adams followed up with a full-count walk and then proceeded to steal her 12th base of the season before being driven home on an opposite field home run by redshirt-junior Skylar Wallace that extended the lead out to 3-0.
Notables:
* Florida improves their overall record to 23-2 and 43-21 in the all-time standings against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
* With the series clinching win tonight, Florida has now won 10 consecutive SEC regular season series which dates back to 2020.
* Elizabeth Hightower tossed a complete-game shutout, her first of the season for the senior.
* The Monticello, Fla. native has a total of 11 complete-game shutouts in her career.
* It’s the first complete-game shutout for Hightower since she posted a no-hitter against USF in the 2021 NCAA Gainesville Regional.
* Kendra Falby hit an inside-the-park home run to score the first run of the game for Florida in the 6th inning.
* The Gators have hit two inside-the-park home runs this season. The first being hit by Skylar Wallace against Coastal Carolina on March 6, 2022.
* This is the first time in Florida softball history where the Gators have hit two inside-the-parkers in a single season.
* Cheyenne Lindsey collected a hit in all three games to open SEC play as she ripped a single up the middle in the 2nd inning.
* The Chattanooga, Tenn. native led the Gators offensively in the series going 6-for-10 with a double and a triple.
* Hannah Adams reached base safely three times laying down a bunt single in the 1st and working two walks.
* The fifth-year senior has reached base safely at-least three times in seven games this season.
* Skylar Wallace drove in two RBI for the second time in the series sending a shot over the left center wall in the 6th inning.
* The Woodstock, Ga. native’s four runs driven in were the most by a Florida player in the series.
* The Gators hit two home runs in the same inning for the 4th time this season with one being inside the park and one other clearing the wall in left center.
* The last time Florida accomplished this was against UCF in the 2nd inning on Feb. 27, 2022.
