The three-game series between Florida and Missouri is set for Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 9 Florida softball team heads out on the road to take on No. 14 Missouri this Friday through Sunday at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
The Gators (34-7, 9-3 SEC) and the Tigers (31-10, 5-7 SEC) enter the weekend series after each competed in a midweek contest this past Wednesday. UF hosted USF at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium and fell, 7-4, to the Bulls for the first time since 2012, while Missouri traveled to Des Moines, Iowa and defeated Drake, 6-3.
As Southeastern Conference play has reached the halfway mark on the schedule, both teams are looking to bolster their positions in the league standings. Florida currently sits only a single game back out of first place behind Tennessee, who holds a 10-2 record in SEC play, and Missouri is hungry to make a move up from their ninth place standing with just 12 games left in league action.
In this series, the Gators will need to compete at an elite level in all facets of the game to continue their streak of winning four-straight SEC series this season. Offensively, the Orange & Blue will need continued production from the usual suspects at the top of the order.
Kendra Falby and Skylar Wallace are hitting .357 and .324 respectively in conference play, while Korbe Otis holds a .523 on base percentage when playing conference opponents. With that trio successfully reaching base that allows the league’s second-ranked RBI performers with 14 each, Jocelyn Erickson & Reagan Walsh, the opportunity to do damage to the opposing team.
Overall on the season Erickson ranks fifth nationally in RBI with 51, while Walsh ranks 17th with 46 on the year.
In the circle, Florida’s young pitching staff is continuing to find ways to win tough games. Keagan Rothrock (17-5) and Ava Brown (14-2) have five wins and four wins respectively in SEC play, which rank second and eighth respectively amongst SEC pitchers. Overall, the duo is the first pair of freshmen in UF history to have a minimum of 14 wins in a season.
They’ll face a Missouri offense that is hitting .283 as a team and are led at the plate by Alex Honnold (.375), Jenna Laird (.374), Maddie Gallagher (.311) and Kayley Lenger (.310). The Tigers only have 28 home runs on the season and are slugging .435, but they have 63 doubles with Honnold leading the way with 17.
The pitching staff currently holds a 2.32 ERA and have held opponents to a .225 batting average. They have a trio of pitchers that have accumulated a majority of the innings pitched as Lauren Krings (9-6) holds 93.0 innings pitched and Cierra Harrison (11-2) has 81.2 innings pitched. Marissa McCann (6-2) rounds out the main group of the staff with 47.2 innings pitched.
Friday and Sunday’s game will stream on SEC Network+, while Saturday’s contest will air on SEC Network.
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>
