Stranding 10 baserunners does not result in many wins, as the Florida softball team found out Tuesday night.
So Wednesday, it focused more on moving the baserunners early in the inning and getting the timely hits.
The Gators prevented the Auburn sweep with an 8-0 win in front of 302 at the Florida Softball Stadium. The game ended in the fifth inning because of the mercy rule.
"The big hits were really key. Everybody contributed in some form, either moving the runners or hitting the ball hard," said UF coach Karen Johns, whose team improves to 20-23 overall, 3-9 in the SEC. "I thought we ran the bases really well today, which was another positive."
This time, the Tigers were the ones struggling with pitching and defense.
Auburn (23-15, 2-7) committed three errors, all of which prolonged an inning after two outs, and struggled with its pitchers.
Four different pitchers were in the game, with Kristen Keyes going the longest at 2 innings.
But after giving up consecutive hits in the fifth, Keyes was yanked and Lily Dubois came in relief. Dubois threw a wild pitch on her first pitch, and Jackie Marchetta scored from third to end the game.
"Florida just did a really good job of hitting the ball," AU coach Tina Deese said. "I don't know that you would call our pitching performance stellar by any means. And we made a couple of errors defensively that changed the game."
The Gators batted around the order in the third, an inning where they scored five runs on four hits.
Also, UF's pitching fared better with Brittani Houghton getting the start. The freshman, starting just for the third time, pitched a complete-game shutout for her longest outing of the season.
"I knew coming into today that I would be ready," said Houghton (1-1), who found out she was starting just before the game. "Everything felt good and everything was working."
Houghton gave up three hits and walked none. She lowered her ERA from 7.50 to 5.53.
"She's been working hard to get herself ready," Johns said. "I thought her composure was very well. The no walk was a great thing for her at this point.
