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Gator Softball 2024

UF softball came into the season confident that their hitting would be elite and their freshman pitchers would be suspect, even though highly touted. The pitching has been great. And we're 8-2. But in the 3 games where we've faced quality pitchers we're 1-2 - beat Oregon State 1-0, lost to Michigan 2-1 in 10 innings and lost tongiht to Oklahoma State 3-0. The hitting has yet to prove itself against quality pitchers and needs to do so if this team is going to compete for a championship of any kind.
floridagators.com

No. 16 Gators Edged by No. 6 Cowgirls in Pitchers’ Duel - Florida Gators

Florida's freshman Keagan Rothrock battled with Oklahoma State's graduate senior NFCA All-American in a game that combined for five total hits.
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ocalaman said:
UF softball came into the season confident that their hitting would be elite and their freshman pitchers would be suspect, even though highly touted. The pitching has been great. And we're 8-2. But in the 3 games where we've faced quality pitchers we're 1-2 - beat Oregon State 1-0, lost to Michigan 2-1 in 10 innings and lost tongiht to Oklahoma State 3-0. The hitting has yet to prove itself against quality pitchers and needs to do so if this team is going to compete for a championship of any kind.
floridagators.com

No. 16 Gators Edged by No. 6 Cowgirls in Pitchers’ Duel - Florida Gators

Florida's freshman Keagan Rothrock battled with Oklahoma State's graduate senior NFCA All-American in a game that combined for five total hits.
floridagators.com floridagators.com
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I agree hitting has been a problem for a number of years. We have had a couple of really good hitters each year but if you pitch around them our offense can’t put together big innings.
 
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Nicktheslick said:
I agree hitting has been a problem for a number of years. We have had a couple of really good hitters each year but if you pitch around them our offense can’t put together big innings.
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That's true, but this year we are supposedly loaded from top to bottom and have a deep bench in case anybody goes into a slump. Coach Walton called the batting order "elite". But so far the 3 quality pitchers we've faced have shut us down.
 
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ocalaman said:
That's true, but this year we are supposedly loaded from top to bottom and have a deep bench in case anybody goes into a slump. Coach Walton called the batting order "elite". But so far the 3 quality pitchers we've faced have shut us down.
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I thought that was the job of elite pitchers, not just in softball. Rothrock certainly showed that last night, giving up just 2 hits to one of the elite teams in the country....jim
 
jimbo1313R said:
I thought that was the job of elite pitchers, not just in softball. Rothrock certainly showed that last night, giving up just 2 hits to one of the elite teams in the country....jim
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Rothrock is excellent, I've never said otherwise. So is Brown. But when a supposedly powerful batting order like ours gets held to a total of 2 runs in 24 innings by 3 quality pitchers (Oregon State, Michigan, Oklahoma State and 2 of these teams aren't even ranked in the Top 25) and we haven't play a Top 5 team yet, that says the hitters have a lot of work to do. It's early in the season, but everybody (including our coaches) was saying this was going to be the best offensive club the Gators have had since the national title years, potentially even better. So far they haven't show it. Even against quality pitchers, great offenses find a way to score some runs - like OSU did last night. FSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington, etc. - They've all faced elite pitching this year and have all scored plenty of runs against good arms. If we're gooing to be in that conversation, our offense needs to do the same thing.
 
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ocalaman said:
Rothrock is excellent, I've never said otherwise. So is Brown. But when a supposedly powerful batting order like ours gets held to a total of 2 runs in 24 innings by 3 quality pitchers (Oregon State, Michigan, Oklahoma State and 2 of these teams aren't even ranked in the Top 25) and we haven't play a Top 5 team yet, that says the hitters have a lot of work to do. It's early in the season, but everybody (including our coaches) was saying this was going to be the best offensive club the Gators have had since the national title years, potentially even better. So far they haven't show it. Even against quality pitchers, great offenses find a way to score some runs - like OSU did last night. FSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington, etc. - They've all faced elite pitching this year and have all scored plenty of runs against good arms. If we're gooing to be in that conversation, our offense needs to do the same thing.
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No question bats are struggling early. But hitting tends to be contagious, and I think once they get it going we will be fine. I would rather slump now than in April.
 
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Florida plays Colgate at 3 pm on Friday, Lafayette at 5:30 pm on Friday, Lafayette at 12:30 pm on Saturday, Colgate at 3 pm on Friday and the University of Illinois-Chicago at 11:30 am on Sunday. Should be a statistics-padding weekend for the Gators. Here's some information about the 3 opponents:

COLGATE - Record of 3-6 with wins over Indiana State and Bethune-Cookman (2), losses to Rutgers (2), Houston, Indiana State, Stetson & Creighton. They play UIC in Gainesville at 10:00 am Friday before facing the Gators. Team BA is .207, 5 HR, 28 BB, 48 K, 8-10 SB. Team ERA is 5.42, 1.96 WHIP, 33 BB, 23 K, .317 BA against.

LAFAYETTE - Record of 2-3 with wins over Buffalo and Tarleton State, losses to Tarleton State, Mississippi Valley State and Idaho State. They play UIC Friday at 12:30 before playing the Gators later in the day. Team BA is .279, 0 HR, 13 BB, 29 K, 13-14 SB. Team ERA is 3.47, 1.92 WHIP, 24 BB, 22 K, .292 BA against.

ILLINOIS-CHICAGO - Record of 1-9 with a win over Hofstra and losses to Boston College, South Florida, Hofstra, Purdue, Southern Utah (2), Cal State Fullerton (2), Pacific and Colorado State. They play Colgate twice and Lafayette twice before facing the Gators on Sunday. Team BA is .192, 0 HR, 18 BB, 56 K, 8-11 SB. Team ERA is 3.19, 1.47 WHIP, 26 BB, 37 K, .282 BA against.

The Gators come into this 5 -game weekend series 10-2 with a team batting average of .357. They have 17 HR, 21 doubles and 97 RBI, 56 walks, 38 strikeouts and are 26-28 in stolen bases. 6 players are hitting over .300 - Katie Kistler at .526, Skylar Wallace at .514, Kendra Falby at .488, Jocelyn Erickson at .432, Korbe Otis at .333 and Ava Brown at .320. Wallace and Reagan Walsh lead the team with 3 HR each, while Erickson leads in RBI with 20, Wallace with 14. Florida is fielding at .984, with 5 errors in 315 chances. The team ERA is 0.56, 0.68 WHIP, 75 innings, 29 hits, 22 walks, 67 strikeouts, 3 HR and a .119 BA against. 11 runs have been scored on the Gators, 5 of them unearned. Keagan Rothrock has thrown 41 innings with a 1.02 ERA, Ava Brown has pitched 25 innings with a 0.28 ERA, Olivia Miller 8.1 innings with a 0.84 ERA. I truly hope Miller get a good bit of time in the circle this weekend.
 
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ocalaman said:
Florida plays Colgate at 3 pm on Friday, Lafayette at 5:30 pm on Friday, Lafayette at 12:30 pm on Saturday, Colgate at 3 pm on Friday and the University of Illinois-Chicago at 11:30 am on Sunday. Should be a statistics-padding weekend for the Gators. Here's some information about the 3 opponents:

COLGATE - Record of 3-6 with wins over Indiana State and Bethune-Cookman (2), losses to Rutgers (2), Houston, Indiana State, Stetson & Creighton. They play UIC in Gainesville at 10:00 am Friday before facing the Gators. Team BA is .207, 5 HR, 28 BB, 48 K, 8-10 SB. Team ERA is 5.42, 1.96 WHIP, 33 BB, 23 K, .317 BA against.

LAFAYETTE - Record of 2-3 with wins over Buffalo and Tarleton State, losses to Tarleton State, Mississippi Valley State and Idaho State. They play UIC Friday at 12:30 before playing the Gators later in the day. Team BA is .279, 0 HR, 13 BB, 29 K, 13-14 SB. Team ERA is 3.47, 1.92 WHIP, 24 BB, 22 K, .292 BA against.

ILLINOIS-CHICAGO - Record of 1-9 with a win over Hofstra and losses to Boston College, South Florida, Hofstra, Purdue, Southern Utah (2), Cal State Fullerton (2), Pacific and Colorado State. They play Colgate twice and Lafayette twice before facing the Gators on Sunday. Team BA is .192, 0 HR, 18 BB, 56 K, 8-11 SB. Team ERA is 3.19, 1.47 WHIP, 26 BB, 37 K, .282 BA against.

The Gators come into this 5 -game weekend series 10-2 with a team batting average of .357. They have 17 HR, 21 doubles and 97 RBI, 56 walks, 38 strikeouts and are 26-28 in stolen bases. 6 players are hitting over .300 - Katie Kistler at .526, Skylar Wallace at .514, Kendra Falby at .488, Jocelyn Erickson at .432, Korbe Otis at .333 and Ava Brown at .320. Wallace and Reagan Walsh lead the team with 3 HR each, while Erickson leads in RBI with 20, Wallace with 14. Florida is fielding at .984, with 5 errors in 315 chances. The team ERA is 0.56, 0.68 WHIP, 75 innings, 29 hits, 22 walks, 67 strikeouts, 3 HR and a .119 BA against. 11 runs have been scored on the Gators, 5 of them unearned. Keagan Rothrock has thrown 41 innings with a 1.02 ERA, Ava Brown has pitched 25 innings with a 0.28 ERA, Olivia Miller 8.1 innings with a 0.84 ERA. I truly hope Miller get a good bit of time in the circle this weekend.
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Great synopsis as always.
 
Gator Softball leads the nation, already having 10 Shut-Outs.

And the Gators just run-ruled it's 7th consecutive opponent and has produced 13 run-rule victories in 18 games this season.

Rothrock has struck out the side 5 times already this season.
She is currently 3rd in the nation with 65 total strikeouts.

The Gators stole 8 bases in today's game against UIC and it's tied for the fifth most stolen bases in a game, which last occurred against LSU (May 2, 2003).

The iG's favorite player, KF:
Blazing FAST Kendra Falby led off the game like most any other with an infield single and she promptly stole second base to move into scoring position before Skylar Wallace draw walk. The duo then stole second and third to set the table for an RBI single by Korbe Otis.

The games 8 stolen bases: Wallace 2, with 1 each by - Falby, Otis, Erickson, Walsh, Barnard, and Kistler.--- That's some seriously aggressive team speed in the iG's OHO....

floridagators.com

No. 14 Gators Close T-Mobile Tournament with Dominant Win Over UIC - Florida Gators

Florida plated eight runs on nine hits, while Rothrock and Brown combined for UF's fifth one-hitter of the year.
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instaGATOR said:
Gator Softball leads the nation, already having 10 Shut-Outs.

And the Gators just run-ruled it's 7th consecutive opponent and has produced 13 run-rule victories in 18 games this season.

Rothrock has struck out the side 5 times already this season.
She is currently 3rd in the nation with 65 total strikeouts.

The Gators stole 8 bases in today's game against UIC and it's tied for the fifth most stolen bases in a game, which last occurred against LSU (May 2, 2003).

The iG's favorite player, KF:
Blazing FAST Kendra Falby led off the game like most any other with an infield single and she promptly stole second base to move into scoring position before Skylar Wallace draw walk. The duo then stole second and third to set the table for an RBI single by Korbe Otis.

The games 8 stolen bases: Wallace 2, with 1 each by - Falby, Otis, Erickson, Walsh, Barnard, and Kistler.--- That's some seriously aggressive team speed in the iG's OHO....

floridagators.com

No. 14 Gators Close T-Mobile Tournament with Dominant Win Over UIC - Florida Gators

Florida plated eight runs on nine hits, while Rothrock and Brown combined for UF's fifth one-hitter of the year.
floridagators.com floridagators.com
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The stats are impressive and it seems these freshmen pitchers are the real deal. But our SOS is awful. We've only played 3 decent teams (2 of them unranked) and we lost 2 of those game, scoring only 2 runs in 24 innings. This weekend's 5-game trip to the West Coast will start to tell how good we really are. Then the SEC season cranks up with a 3-game trip to Alabama, who is undefeated right now, but has played an even weaker schedule than the Gators.
 
Baseball and Softball are both 'long season' sports.
In football, you lose 1 or 2 games and you're likely out of the running for both the SEC and Natl Championships. Then it drops to 6 wins for a bowl.
The 'long season, many games' sports not so much. It's more on how you finish than on how you started.

Baseball just lost to freakin' Stetson, is anyone panicking over it???
The goal for me is to just make the CWS Regionals.
At that point, it's anyone's to win.

It's the same for every team in basketball.
Just make the Dance,,,, then win 6 games in a row and you're the NC.
 
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Here are some details about today's opponents:

Cal State Fullerton - They are 9-6 and play Michigan today before meeting the Gators tonight. Their wins are against Colorado State (2), Illinois-Chicago, Pacific, Memphis, Arizona State, Loyola Marymount, Tennessee and Seattle. Losses have been to California, BYU, Grand Canyon, Missouri, Mississippi State and Nebraska. Team Batting average is .322, 7 HR, 26 BB, 62 K's, 34-41 in SB, slugging .430. Their fielding is .971 with 12 errors in 15 games. Team ERA is 2.37, WHIP 1.06, 7 HR, 26 BB, 81 K's, .213 BA against.

Long Beach State - They are 2-13 and play Texas A&M this afternoon before playing the Gators tonight. Their wins are against BYU and Michigan (last night), with losses to Nebraska, Oklahoma, Duke, Iowa State, Arizona (2), Arkansas, Omaha (2), Oregon, Wisconsin, California and Fresno State. Brutal schedule! Team batting average is .196, 9 HR, 49 BB, 57 K's, 11-14 SB, slugging .257. Fielding is .971 with 12 errors in 15 games. Team ERA is 6.71, WHIP 1.89, 25 HR, 49 BB, 42 K's, .333 BA against.

Here's information on the other 3 teams we play out West:

UCLA - Even though they are only 7-5, this is a talented team that is always good. They have beaten Maryland, San Diego, FSU, Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois & Tennessee, with losses to Texas (2), Oklahoma State, Georgia and Baylor. They play Michigan Friday just before facing the Gators. Team BA is .283, 11 HR, 39 BB, 57 K's, 2-3 SB, slugging .459. Fielding is .954 with 15 errors in 12 games. Team ERA is 4.76, WHIP 1.86, 19 HR, 44 BB, 78 K's, .301 BA against.

DePaul - They are 3-11, with wins over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Tennessee Tech & Memphis. They have lost to Furman, UNC-Wilmington, Queens U-Charlotte, Northern Kentucky, North Dakota St., Michigan St., Kansas City, Boise St., Texas-Arlington, Tennessee Tech and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Florida is their next game on Friday.
Team BA is .255, 10 HR, 28 BB, 56 K's, 23-29 SB and slugging .395. Fielding is .938 with 25 errors in 14 games. Team ERA is 4.54, WHIP 1.66, 14 HR, 39 BB, 43 K's, .293 BA against. This is a BAD team!

Michigan - Michigan is 10-5, with wins over Illinois St., Bethune-Cookman, Florida, Oregon St., Seton Hall, Maine, Northern Colorado (2), Sacramento St., & UC-Santa Barbara. Their losses are to USF, Louisville, Florida Atlantic, Sacramento St. and Long Beach St. They have games with Texas A&M, Cal St.-Fullerton, Oregon St. & UCLA before playing the Gators. Team BA is .240, 11 HR, 32 BB, 46 K's, 10-17 SB and .379 slugging. Fielding is .977 with 9 errors in 15 games. Team ERA is 1.50, WHIP 1.05, 5 HR, 32 BB, 92 K's, .205 BA against. Their strength, obviously is pitching.

For comparison purposes, here are some Gator stats:
Gators are 15-2 with wins over Oregon St., Illinois St., Bethune-Cookman, USF, Jacksonville (2), Georgia Southern, Loyola-Maryland, North Florida (2), Colgate (2), Lafayette (2) & Illinois-Chicago, losses to Michigan and Oklahoma St. Team BA is .388, 24 HR, 84 BB, 45 K's, 42-44 SB, slugging .656. Fielding is .986 with 6 errors in 17 games. Team ERA is 0.48, WHIP 0.60, 3 HR, 24 BB, 97 K's, .111 BA against.
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Florida beats host Cal State-Fullerton 9-0 in 5 innings on a Keagan Rothrock no hitter. The they beat Long Beach State 15-0 in 5 innings on a combined 2 hitter from Ava Brown, Olivia Miller and Mackenzie Wooten. Tremendous start to the Juni Garman Classic. UCLA and DePaul tomorrow.
 
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Countygator1 said:
And just to make sure I understand, these pitchers are freshman? This is amazing.
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Correct. Keagan Rothrock and Ava Brown were the top 2 rated high school pitchers in the country for 2023. Brown was the National Player of the Year and she plays first base when not pitching. Olivia Miller was rated something like the #16 HS pitcher last year, originally signed with Ole Miss. But when one of their coaches left, it somehow allowed her the chance to transfer without sitting out a year. She's from Orlando and Coach Walton snapped her up. Our 4th pitcher, Mackenzie Wooten, who's only thrown 2.2 innings, is a grad transfer from Virginia from Virginia. Miller, the #3 pitcher, has already thrown 2 perfect games. They are the real deal in the circle, although so far the competition hasn;t been great. But still.....
 
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Sunday and Monday games are showing on the SEC-N.

I would love for them to get a Top-25 sweep vs the red turds, in their house.... 😉
 
Alabama's defense was terrible with 6 errors. But Florida's speed and aggressiveness forced a lot of those mistakes. I love this team and we go for the sweep Monday night on SECN.
floridagators.com

No. 13 Florida Run-Rules No. 11 Alabama to Claim Series - Florida Gators

The Gators run-ruled the Crimson Tide for just the fourth time in program history with their 11-2 win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sunday evening.
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ocalaman said:
Alabama's defense was terrible with 6 errors. But Florida's speed and aggressiveness forced a lot of those mistakes. I love this team and we go for the sweep Monday night on SECN.
floridagators.com

No. 13 Florida Run-Rules No. 11 Alabama to Claim Series - Florida Gators

The Gators run-ruled the Crimson Tide for just the fourth time in program history with their 11-2 win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sunday evening.
floridagators.com floridagators.com
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Great opening weekend series against a high quality opponent.
 
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Only 2 SEC schools have won a Softball NC, #13 UF and #11 UA.
Over the years, this has grown into the SEC's biggest Softball rivalry....

Freshman Gator RHP Keagan Rothrock is the first freshman to ever throw a complete-game, one-hit shutout against Alabama.
(shades of Kelly Barnhill?)
Something for Rothrock to shoot for:
Kelly Barnhill was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, Honda Sports Award and espnW Player of the Year in 2017.
==========

Then Fr pitcher Brown went 2-for-3 at the plate with her fifth home run of the season, on her way to throwing an 11-2 Run Rule Win to lock in the Gator's series win @ bama. The Gators run-ruled the Crimson Tide for just the fourth time in program history with their 11-2 win in Tuscaloosa.
(shades of Lauren Haeger?)
Something for Brown to shoot for:
Luaren Haeger is the only player in softball or baseball history besides Babe Ruth to hit 70 home-runs and win 70 games in the circle.

instaGATOR said:
I would love for them to get a Top-25 sweep vs the red turds, in their house.... 😉
Click to expand...

I got a feeling that UA, and the rest of the SEC, are going to get real tired of facing those two pitchers while they are at UF over the next few years.

I also expect that those team rankings are shortly going to change a bit..... 😉

floridagators.com

No. 13 Florida Run-Rules No. 11 Alabama to Claim Series - Florida Gators

The Gators run-ruled the Crimson Tide for just the fourth time in program history with their 11-2 win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sunday evening.
floridagators.com floridagators.com
 
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