An offense scoring an insane 11.8 runs per game leads the nation in that category as the No. 3 Florida Gators softball team has finished a two-week 10-0 record. Meanwhile over the weekend, a pair of Gators earned Co-Player and Co-Pitcher of the week honor from the SEC.
Redshirt-junior Skylar Wallace’s SEC Player of the Week honor is the first for a Florida player since Charla Echols was awarded the week of May 11, 2021. The SEC Pitcher of the Week award was the first for a Gator since Natalie Lugo was awarded the week of April 27. 2021. It’s the first time award for Wallace and the third for Elizabeth Hightower. It’s the first time the awards were given to two Gators in the same week since Kendyl Lindeman and Natalie Lugo were awarded the week of March 17, 2020.
Wallace went 10-for-16 at the plate this week with two home runs, three triples, and a double. She scored 11 times, drove in 12 runs, and was 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts. She currently holds an eight-game hitting streak.
Hightower is now 5-0 on the season after earning four wins in four appearances this week. She was perfect through 3 2/3 innings against Jacksonville, threw a complete game against UConn, and won two games in relief against Bowling Green and UConn on the second day of the T-Mobile Tournament. She held opposing batters to a .118 average over the last week. Hightower has not allowed an earned run in 20 1/3 innings so far this season.
As a team, the Gators have scored 118 runs this season on 101 hits. They have 37 extra-base hits in the 10 games with 18 doubles, five triples, and 14 homeruns. The squad’s 73 walks and .570 on base percentage both rank tops in the country. The Gators have struck out just 23 times and are 30-of-32 stealing bases.
Florida has three players hitting .500 or better (at least 15 at-bats). Junior Avery Goelz has 14 hits in 25 at-bats (.560), Wallace has 12 hits in 22 at-bats (.545), and Echols is 11-for-22 (.500). Goelz leads the team with five doubles while Wallace holds the team lead in extra-base hits with her three homeruns, three triples, and a double.
Of the 10 games, eight have been called with the five-inning run-rule. That is the most in program history in the first 10 games of any season. The Gators have four shutouts already this season. Three different pitchers have collected wins with Hightower (5-0) leading the way for senior Rylee Trlicek (4-0) who threw her fourth complete game of her career in a 15-1 win over Central Michigan and sophomore Lexie Delbray (1-0) who got the win in her first action of the season in a 15-0 win over Delaware State.
The Gators get three days off now and return to the diamond Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. The first contest for Florida will be against No. 2 UCLA.
By Bob Redman.
Photo by UAA Communications.