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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2018 18:33:36 GMT -5
Aleshia Ocasio allowed 5 hits and 1 run which was scored in the 1st inning. www.sidearmstats.com/ucf/softball/The knights pitcher did better holding UF to 1 hit and no runs. UF won a complete 1-0 game. UF's record dropped to 32-5. I thought UF was playing down to the competition in some of the games last week. Apparently, the offense is in a slump. It's a bad time to be in a slump headed to Alabama. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2018 19:12:05 GMT -5
Kelly Barnhill outdueled Alabama's senior ace Alexis Osorio as the Gators beat the tide 6-1 in game 1: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/7/softball-no-4-florida-downs-no-15-alabama.aspxBoth teams battled damp conditions with temps in the mid 40s and high winds. I was cold just watching the game at home. UF's record advanced to 33-5 (8-2). The Gators are alone in 1st place in SEC play. Game 2 will be on Sunday afternoon at 2 PM CDT on ESPN2. Game 3 will be on Monday in primetime on the SEC Network. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 7:36:39 GMT -5
Bama took game 2 of the series 3-2. Aleshia Ocasio took another close loss in which the Gator O didn't give her enough run support. Aleshia was also the 1-0 loser at UCF last mid week. floridagators.com/news/2018/4/8/softball-no-4-florida-falls-to-no-15-alabama.aspxThe rubber game is on Monday night on the SEC Network. It'll be Barnhill vs. Osario again. Bama used Osario for the save yesterday so that could impact her a bit on Monday night. She had close to 200 pitches on Saturday and around 35 pitches yesterday. I'd say the advantage is UF with Barnhill having had Sunday off, but winning on the road in the SEC is tough. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 21:54:51 GMT -5
UF took game 3 by reversing the score of game 2 as the Gators beat the tide 3-2 on Monday night on the SEC Network: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/9/softball-romanello-lifts-no-4-gators-to-series-victory-over-no-15-alabama.aspxfloridagators.com/boxscore.aspx?path=softball&id=14009True freshman Danielle Romanello accounted for all of UF's runs when she hit a 2 run double in the 4th and a solo homerun in the 6th. UF had to come back from behind 2-0 as bama's Kaylee Tow hit a 2 run homer with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 3rd inning. Kelly Barnhill limited bama to 4 hits while giving up 5 walks. The game was tough to watch running for 2:49 as there were 16 walks in the game. Kelly Barnhill had 5, but Alexis Osorio had 11 and made 179 pitches compared to Kelly Barnhill's 130. Osorio refused to give in to the UF offense as she walked leadoff batter Amanda Lorenz 3 times and cleanup hitter Nicole DeWitt 3 times along with 5 more walks to Gators. UF only had the two Romanello hits and three runs, but Kelly Barnhill made them stand up for the win. With just a few timely hits, UF would have blown bama off their home field, but the only timely hits came from true freshman Danielle Romanello. Welcome to the bama rivalry Danielle. UF's record advanced to 34-6 (9-3). The Gators lead the SEC race by percentage points over Georgia and by 1 game over South Carolina. For the week, UF went 2-2 losing 1-0 midweek at UCF and then taking 2 of 3 from Alabama. Next Up: Wednesday night at 7 PM EDT at Florida State. The game will be televised by ESPN 2. South Carolina is coming to UF for a weekend series. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 21:02:04 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2018 0:59:06 GMT -5
Tim Walton experimented with a new lineup order, but #7 UF only scored 1 run in losing 4-1 at #8 FSU: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/11/softball-fresh-from-florida-sunshine-showdown-no-6-gators-drop-decision-to-no-13-florida-state.aspxKivistad was moved up to leadoff followed by DeWitt, Lorenz, and Matthews. While the table was set for her several times, freshman Jordan Matthews struck out twice with runners in scoring position. In both Matthew strikeouts, Lorenz was walked intentionally and walked to get to Matthews. For lack of timely hits, UF is suffering in run production. When the table is set, somebody has to get that timely hit to get the runs home. That's not happening for UF right now. Over the last two games at bama plus the FSU game, UF has averaged 2 runs a game against top quality pitching. That won't do for anyone outside of Kelly Barnhill and even she has 1 of UF's 7 losses on the season. Aleshia Ocasio picked up the 1-0 loss at UCF last week, the 3-2 loss at bama, and the 4-1 loss at FSU. Walton needs to find some offensive run production outside of Kivistad, DeWitt, and Lorenz. The other players have to find a way to contribute with timely hits or the season will end less satisfying than what the pitching and defense calls for. This UF softball team will have to get hot at the right time with timely hitting like the 2017 Florida baseball national champion did if UF is to have any hope for a similar result. UF's record fell to 34-7. Next Up: A good South Carolina team in Gainesville. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2018 10:43:09 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2018 9:23:13 GMT -5
#7 UF swept #12 South Carolina in the Saturday DH:
UF 7
USC 0
UF 3
USC 0
In game 3 to get the sweep, Nicole DeWitt hit a walkoff 3 run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning.
Kelly Barnhill won games 1 & 3. Aleshia Ocasio won game 2 as the Gators finally scored some runs for her.
UF's record advanced to 37-7 (12-3). The Gators lead the SEC by 1 game over Georgia with 9 SEC games to play.
Next Up: FAMU on Wednesday followed by a road trip to Mississippi State over the weekend.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2018 23:34:30 GMT -5
FAMU proved to be of little competition as the Gators beat the Rattlers 19-3: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/18/softball-no-5-gators-blow-past-florida-am.aspxUF batters got well in a hurry against substandard pitching. I wouldn't draw any conclusions on whether the offense is improving based on this game. Natalie Lugo pitched 4.1 innings of no hit ball. She had a perfect game going so she pitched past the 3 innings Tim Walton wanted her to pitch. When Lugo walked a batter after a 12 pitch at-bat battle, Walton immediately went to Katie Chronister for the last two outs. Chronister proceeded to give up 3 hits, a walk, and 3 runs to close out the 8 run rule game. While limited to the last two outs of the game, Chronister showed as a sophomore that she has been passed up by freshman Lugo. Natalie Lugo looks like the real deal. Her talent level is apparent. She only needs playing time to develop her experience and skill. JMHO, it'll be Katie Barnhill and Natalie Lugo in 2019. I'm thinking in her year 2 that Lugo will be better than Aleshia Ocasio who is a darn fine pitcher in her own right. Lugo somewhat reminds me of a right handed Delanie Gourley. My guess is Katie Chronister will be passed up in 2019 by any high quality pitcher Walton brings in. I hope Chronister proves me wrong, but I don't think she has the type of talent that will allow her to become a major contributor with UF. In year 2, she isn't getting it done. JMHO, if Chronister wants to pitch in college on a regular basis, she should seek out a transfer after the 2018 season to a lower level of college softball. I haven't seen anything to suggest she will develop into an SEC caliber pitcher. It's unfortunate if this turns out to be the case as apparently Tim Walton would like to have two quality righties, Barnhill/Ocasio or Barnhill/Lugo, and 1 quality lefty, Chronister, in his pitching arsenal. UF's record advanced to 38-7 (12-3). Next Up: #5 UF at #19/22 Mississippi State |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2018 21:59:25 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2018 14:56:00 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 7:46:09 GMT -5
#5 UF took down #6/8 FSU 5-1 last night to get revenge for their 4-1 loss at Tallahassee two weeks ago: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/25/softball-no-5-gators-rally-in-sixth-to-down-no-8-seminoles.aspxIt was a pitchers duel until the bottom of the 6th inning when the Gators offense broke through scoring 5 runs. Kelly Barnhill got a bit too comfortable serving up a solo homer to Jessica Warren, FSU's star 3rd baseman and best hitter, to open the 7th. Kelly immediately got her head back in the game and proceeded to strike out the side. UF's record advanced to 42-7. Next Up: #13/14 LSU invades Gainesville Friday for a big SEC weekend series. The Gators and Tigers always play a competitive series. LSU has two talented/experienced starters who have given UF much trouble in the past. The Gators will have to be on top of their game if they are to win this series. UF goes into the series at 15-3 in the SEC, with a 2 game conference lead over Georgia, and with 6 games remaining in the conference season. The first game will be on the SEC Network while games 2 & 3 will be on ESPN2. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 13:54:37 GMT -5
UF Hosts LSU for the Weekend: floridagators.com/news/2018/4/26/softball-no-5-florida-to-host-no-14-lsu-senior-day-set-for-saturday.aspxCarly Hoover and Allie Walljasper are terrific pitchers, as good of a combo as there is in college softball. Without them LSU would be just a so so team. With them, they are capable of beating anybody and especially so as they are combined with a stout defense that has a very good fielding percentage. The problem with LSU this season is they have fast players with little power. They successfully steal a lot to get extra bases to compensate for the lack of average and power in their hitting. Their OBP is significantly down by LSU standards. When LSU runners are on base, UF catcher Janell Wheaton will have her hands full managing her pitcher and trying to keep LSU from turning the base paths into a track meet. LSU has stolen successfully 59 times in 65 attempts. The Tigers will steal the games unless the UF pitchers and defense slows them down. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2018 14:06:17 GMT -5
UF had a good week going 3-1 against ranked competition:
UF 5 FSU 1
UF 7 LSU 0
UF 0 LSU 3
UF 5 LSU 3
You guessed it, UF scored zip for Aleshia Ocasio in game 2. Aleshia is a good pitcher who deserves better run support. In the finale against LSU, the Tigers jumped up 3-0 in the top of the 5th thanks to Barnhill giving up 2 homeruns. The Gators got the wake up call that unless their bats woke up, the best pitcher in college softball was going to get tagged for her second loss of the season. UF score 4 in the bottom of the 5th and 1 insurance run playing small ball in the bottom of the 6th to pull out the 5-3 win. Bottom line, the Gators found a way to give Barnhill offensive support that they do not always give to Ocasio.
UF takes too many walks rather than looking for a few timely hits that could blow open games for the Gators. When UF gets to the best of the best at the WCWS, they had best find a way to get more runs in a timely fashion. Passing the bats with walks just doesn't replace timely hits that score runs. I'd like to see more green lights given on 3-1 counts. First, be aggressive looking for the hit, but take the walk if a hitter's pitch isn't delivered.
Amanda Lorenz is by far UF's best hitter. I'd like to see Kayli Kivistad moved up to 2 in the lineup from cleanup as she takes a lot of walks and can set the table. Lorenz in cleanup puts UF's best hitter in a position to be aggressive at the plate to score more runs. I've seen too many times that Kivistad takes a walk with runners in scoring position instead of trying to drive in runs from the cleanup slot in the lineup. The bat passes too easily from Kivistad to Janell Wheaton or Aleshia Ocasio where the inning ends with little or no production with runners in scoring position.
JMHO, these two adjustments in pitch count green lights and the switch of Kivistad and Lorenz in the lineup could produce big returns for the Gators. Don't get me wrong, the Gators are as good as anybody right now, but they could be better than everybody with the fine tuning I'd like to see implemented.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2018 8:23:45 GMT -5
5.2.2018
This is timely:
Gators Softball
@gatorssb
.@amandalorenz18 is on
Last 10 Games
.577 Avg (15-for-26) | 11 R | 12 RBI | 2 - 2B | 2 - 3B | 2 - HR | 8 BB
9:49 AM - May 1, 2018
Yes, please switch Lorenz from batting 2nd to cleanup and Kivistad from cleanup to 2nd. I'd be okay with moving Nicole DeWitt up to 2nd and Kivistad to 3rd too. In either case, I want to see Lorenz batting cleanup. True freshman Hannah Adams is an excellent leadoff hitter. She's batting just above .300 plus she has a good OBP.
The next batting improvement needs to come from the bottom of the lineup; Janell Wheaton, Aleshia Ocasio, Sophia Reynoso. It would be great to get an end of the year jump from true freshmen Jordan Matthews and Danielle Romanello. Matthews is a sucker for the rise ball as so many freshmen are prone to be. UF has a couple of sophomores who look like Super Woman, but are underwhelming and underperforming at the plate - they hit with power, but not average. I'm hoping Matthews and Romanello don't fall into that category.
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