Halfway through the season, and the Florida softball team still is struggling to find stability.
The Gators thought they had it early in the season, but they have had little of it in the past month, something they hope to change in the second half of the season starting with this weekend's Gator Invitational.
"Sooner or later, you've got to draw the line and say we're a good team," said UF coach Karen Johns. "Not only do we have to say it, but we've got to believe it."
And Florida had reason to believe it was a strong team at the beginning of the season.
A seven-game winning streak, which included three wins against then-No. 9 Washington, early in the season propelled the Gators to a 10-4 start. They have scattered just four wins and suffered a program-high six-game losing streak since then.
Having lost 17 of the past 21 games, Florida's batting average has dropped to an SEC-low .240. But the low hitting is not Johns' greatest concern.
"We've got two problem areas - errors and walks," Johns said. "They're going to hit you - everybody's a good hitting team now - but if you eliminate the extra baserunners, then they don't get the big innings like they're getting right now."
The UF pitchers have combined for a 3.77 ERA and 112 walks, both of which are SEC-highs by a large margin, and they have surrendered five or more runs 10 times. Alabama has the next highest ERA at 2.35 and Auburn has the second-most walks with 78.
Part of the pitching troubles can be attributed to a young staff, which is comprised of one sophomore and three freshmen. Opponents are hitting .277 and have scored 166 runs off the UF pitchers.
"They haven't all been in these situations yet and they're going through it (now)," Johns said. "We played such a great schedule, and we did that for a reason. We're pretty optimistic in a sense that they've some great stuff against these teams. Then there are times when they've showed their youth.
"We're trying to de-emphasize our youth because we are halfway through the season, and now they're sophomores."
On defense, the Gators' .951 fielding percentage and 55 errors both rank as the second worst in the SEC. In the past 21 games, there have been only five error-free games for Florida.
"It's frustrating because I feel like we haven't been beat by a team yet," shortstop Jackie Marchetta said. "I feel like we've beat ourselves."
Softball tournament
WHAT: Florida (14-21) in Gator Invitational
WHEN: Today-Sunday
WHERE: Florida Softball Field
THE FACTS: The Gators return to the friendly confines of the Florida Softball Field, where they are 9-4. But away from Gainesville, Florida is just 5-17. The Gators are batting .240 and has two player hitting better than .300 - Mandy Schuerman (.354) and Jackie Marchetta (.310). In the circle, Amanda Moore has a team-low 2.92 ERA. Florida has a 3.73 team ERA.
The other schools in this tournament are No. 25 Wisconsin (14-7), Maine (11-10) and Samford (12-10). The schedule for this weekend is as follows: Today-Maine vs. Wisconsin, noon; Wisconsin vs. Samford, 2:30 p.m.; Florida vs. Samford, 5 p.m.; Florida vs. Maine, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Samford vs. Maine, 11 a.m.; Florida vs. Wisconsin, 1:30 p.m.; Seed 1 vs. Seed 4, 4 p.m.; Seed 2 vs. Seed 3, 5:30 p.m.; Sunday-Consolation game, 9 a.m.; Championship game, 11:30 a.m.
UF THIS WEEKEND
Baseball
WHAT: No. 10 Florida (20-3, 3-0) at No. 5 South Carolina (19-3, 2-1)
WHEN: 7 tonight, 4 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Sarge-Frye Field, Columbia, S.C.
ON THE AIR: AM-850
THE FACTS: Florida is currently on a nine-game winning streak in which it has averaged 17.4 runs and 16.0 hits per game. ... This will be Florida's second trip away from McKethan Stadium since Feb. 10. ... The Gators enter the series hitting .401 as a team, led by Aaron Sobieraj (.506) and Mark Kiger (.476). ... The Gamecocks took two of three at Florida last year and the Gators are just 6-12 at USC in the last 18 games there. ... Tonight's starter for Florida, Jimmy Ramshaw (2-0, 5.00), gave up four runs on five hits over seven innings in beating the Gamecocks last year.
-Brandon Zimmerman
Women's golf
WHAT: No. 14 Florida in Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
WHEN: Today-Sunday
WHERE: University of Georgia Golf Club (Par 72/6,104 yards), Athens, Ga.
THE FACTS: This is the first tournament for the Gators in a month. They have not played since winning the SunTrust Lady Gator Invitational, their second tournament victory of the season. This weekend, Florida goes up against No. 1 Auburn, No. 13 Georgia, No. 16 Wake Forest, No. 21 LSU, No. 25 North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Furman, Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska and South Carolina. The order of the UF playing five is Jeanne Cho, Brittany Straza, Andrea Vander Lende, Amanda Dick and Whitney Code. Straza is the highest-ranked Gator at 34, while Cho, who has a 74.3 stroke average in the spring, is 52nd. Vander Lende (81st) also is in the top 100.
Women's tennis
WHAT: No. 3 Florida (10-0) vs. No. 7 Duke (11-2)
WHEN: 3 p.m., today
WHERE: Ambler Tennis Stadium, Durham, N.C.
THE FACTS: The Gators continue their stretch of five matches against top-25 opponents today against Duke. The Blue Devils, who snapped Florida's 64-match regular-season home winning streak last year with a 4-1 win, are UF's toughest road opponent of the season. The No. 1 singles match should be a good matchup, setting up UF's Jessica Lehnhoff, the second-ranked singles player, against Duke freshman Kelly McCain, ranked fourth. McCain is the only player to beat Lehnhoff this season, besting the UF senior 6-2, 6-4 at the National Intercollegiate Indoor Tennis Championships in November. Both schools also have three other singles players ranked - Lindsay Dawaf (26th), Zerene Reyes (47th) and Alexis Gordon (76th) for Florida and Julie DeRoo (18th), Amanda Johnson (39th) and Sara Arasu (64th) for Duke. ... After today, the Gators travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on No. 2 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons (14-1) have the nation's top-ranked singles player in Bea Bielik. She also is half of the No. 1 doubles team with Janet Bergman.
