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Florida, the nation’s No.2 seed, opens best-of-three Super Regional play Thursday night against Texas A&M at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The winner advances to the Women’s College World Series next week.
Putting in the work every day to keep our story going! 🐊💪☀️ pic.twitter.com/2fzlryGmj2
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) May 23, 2018
History
The Gators (53-8) swept the Aggies (43-16) with a combined score of 23-4, including a 10-o victory, in a weekend series during the regular season.
Senior pitcher Aleshia Ocasio says despite the sweep, the Gators are still going to have to bring their A-game, because “every team in the SEC is a good team, and the Aggies are tough opponents.”
Alesha Ocasio says sweeping Texas A&M in the regular season means nothing relative to this Super Regional. pic.twitter.com/iieqqSrtnw
— Kate Venezio (@kate_venezio) May 24, 2018
Senior Nicole DeWitt has the same mentality.
“We’re not going to concentrate on how we beat them last time,” DeWitt said. “We’re looking to focus on how we can beat them this time.”
Earlier this month, the Aggies were the first team to get eliminated in the 2018 SEC Softball Tournament, after losing to Mississippi State, 2-0. The Gators went on to win the SEC Championship for the sixth consecutive year when they defeated South Carolina 3-1.
Finalists
This year’s SEC Pitcher of the Year Kelly Barnhill (28-1) and SEC Player of the Year Amanda Lorenz are Top-Four finalists for the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. They are joined by UCLA’s Rachel Garcia and Oklahoma’s Paige Parker.
Congratulations to @kkatlyn111 & @AmandaLorenz18 on being named Top 4 finalists for the @USASoftball Collegiate Player of the Year‼️#GoGators 🐊 #TheEdge
📰 https://t.co/PUOA9DvbhE pic.twitter.com/dHdwx5uGST
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) May 23, 2018
Kelly Barnhill
Last year Barnhill won the award, deeming her the second Gator to have won the prestigious award. Former Gator Lauren Haeger received the award in 2015 when the Gators made their back-to-back national championship run.
This season, Barnhill has thrown thrown five complete-game no-hitters, including a perfect game, and two combined no-hitters. She also has three one-hitters on the season. According to FloridaGators.com, she recorded a scoreless inning streak of 37.0 innings, and holds 17 wins and seven shutouts against Top 25 opponents.
Amanda Lorenz
Lorenz has been a menace at the plate, posting an eight game hitting streak. She also has 19 multi-hit games and 16 multi-RBI games. She is Florida’s most reliable batter, reaching base safely in all 61 games played this season.
BOOM! @GatorsSB's Amanda Lorenz crushes a 3-run HR.
🐊 lead 3-1 pic.twitter.com/iAvCrKFvNB
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 13, 2018
“Power-hitter” is an understatement, Lorenz has hit two grand slams this season, against Loyola Marymount (March 1) and Mississippi State (April 21). Additionally, she scored the game-winning run 17 times this season.
The Matchup
Ocasio says the team is focusing on “doing the little things right and not taking a rep off.”
Senior pitcher Alesha Ocasio says the team is focusing on “doing the little things right and not taking a rep off,” as the Gators head into Game 1 of the Super Regionals vs. Texas A&M. pic.twitter.com/ogFnuy9WWh
— Kate Venezio (@kate_venezio) May 24, 2018
Needing tickets to this weekend's @NCAAsoftball Super Regional against Texas A&M that starts this Thursday⁉️ Press 👇 https://t.co/U0PCULwCCs
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) May 22, 2018
Coverage of Thursday and Saturday’s games can be seen on ESPN, while Friday’s contest can be seen on ESPN2 with Tiffany Greene and Amanda Scarborough on the call.
