No. 3 Gators Softball Defeats California Baptist, Arizona State

The Gators returned to form, sweeping the first day of the Sun Devil Classic.

Florida run-ruled the California Baptist Lancers 11-0 and followed it up with a 9-1 victory against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Game One: California Baptist

The Gators dominated CBU (5-8) both at the plate and on the mound Friday. They scored nine runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Rylee Holtorf and Taylor Shumaker were the standout performers for Florida (15-1). Holtorf, the Arizona native, put the game out of reach early with a grand slam in the first inning to send CBU’s Morgan McConnell to the bench.

https://twitter.com/GatorsSB/status/1892997639442215268

Shumaker had a strong performance with two home runs, bouncing back after a tough showing in the final two games of the Bubly Invitational. She launched one over the fence in the first inning, increasing the Gators’ lead to nine — her nation-leading ninth home run of the season — and then hit another three innings later for good measure.

Meanwhile, Ava Brown was excellent in the circle, allowing only three hits in four innings pitched. Olivia Miller came in for relief and was able to close the game out to seal the Gators’ 11-0 victory.

Game Two: Arizona State

It wasn’t the most flashy performance from the Gators, but they got the job done.

While the game against CBU was a display of power hitting, Florida relied more on small ball in the matchup with Arizona State (7-5), opening the scoring in the second inning with a sacrifice fly from Holtorf that allowed Kenleigh Cahalan to score. The Gators added most of their runs in similar fashion, using singles and sac flies to get players across the plate. Mia Williams’ solo home run in the fourth inning was the only exception.

https://twitter.com/GatorsSB/status/1893048365899976714

The Gators finally blew the game open in the final inning by capitalizing on errors by the Sun Devils to load the bases. Florida then strung together a couple of singles to score four more runs.

Arizona State showed some life in the bottom of the seventh with Kara Hammock allowing a walk and a double to back-to-back batters, but the Sun Devils couldn’t capitalize and the game concluded with a 9-1 victory for the Gators.

Despite the slower-paced nature of the game, the Gators’ lead was never challenged. Keagan Rothrock looked comfortable in the circle, allowing only one run and getting Florida out of a bases-loaded jam in the third without much trouble.

Takeaways

This invitational should ideally be a recovery weekend for the Gators, and so far, it has been.

Florida didn’t make any uncharacteristic mistakes like it did against Duke, and at no point did players look out of sync with each other. Though Jocelyn Erickson had another quiet day for the Gators, the rest of the lineup is performing so well that it shouldn’t be a cause of concern.

Hammock also had a good bounce-back performance, showing she can be relied on in high-leverage situations for Florida.

Looking Ahead

The Gators continue the Sun Devil Classic through the weekend. They play New Mexico State and Grand Canyon in Phoenix Saturday evening. ESPN+ broadcasts the GCU game, which starts at 8:30 p.m.