GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Florida closed out the Bubly Invitational with another pair of victories over Charlotte, 4-0, and Georgia Southern, 11-0, Sunday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The Gators (8-0) picked up back-to-back complete game performances in the circle from Katie Chronister (4-0) and Elizabeth Hightower (3-0) in the wins over the 49ers (3-4) and the Eagles (1-4).
Chronister turned in a career day as she went the distance in the first game against Charlotte. The Gainesville, Fla. native’s complete game was the second of her career and the 7.0 innings pitched with six strikeouts were both career highs for the left-handed pitcher.
In the game against Georgia Southern, Hightower was on the verge of her first career perfect game. The Eagles spoiled the opportunity in 7th inning with a one-out walk and double from a pair of pinch hitters.
Despite the disruption to the perfect game, the Monticello, Fla. native capped her performance with back-to-back strikeouts, which allowed her to finish with her second-career one-hit shutout. She also tallied a season-high eight strikeouts.
Offensively, the Gators pounded out nine hits against the 49ers and 14 hits against the Eagles. Seven different Gators also tallied multi-hit games in the two wins.
Hannah Adams (2-for-3), Emily Wilkie (2-of-3) and Jordan Matthews (2-for-3) ripped multiple hits against Charlotte, while Cheyenne Lindsey (3-for-3), Kendyl Lindaman (2-for-4), Julia Cottrill (2-for-4), Jaimie Hoover (2-for-3) and Adams (2-for-3) each picked up multiple hits against Georgia Southern.
Against the Eagles, Lindsey tied Nicole Krieple’s single-game record for doubles that was set against Florida A&M, March 11, 2000. Lindsey was able to rope a double in the 1st, 3rd and 4th innings to help secure the Gators win.
In the first game of the afternoon against Charlotte, the combination of Wilkie and Matthews broke open the scoring in the 2nd inning and put the Gators ahead 1-0 with a pair of doubles.
Florida added three more runs in the 4th to close out the scoring thanks to another RBI double from Matthews, an RBI double from Lindsey and an infield bunt single from Adams.
In the final game of the day against Georgia Southern, the Gators wasted no time in getting ahead on the scoreboard as the squad churned out five runs on six hits in the 1st inning.
UF added two more to extend the lead out to 7-0 in the 3rd inning thanks to a two-RBI double from Charla Echols, and plated four more runs in the 4th inning to cap the scoring and extend the lead out to 11-0.
Lindsey drove home Hoover and Katie Kistler with her third double of the game and Lindaman drove in Lindsey and Adams with another two-RBI double down the left field line.
Overall, Florida belted out seven doubles against Georgia Southern, which was just one shy of the single game record of eight.
Next up for the Gators is a single game contest against UNF. The contest was originally scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24, but has now been moved to Thursday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m. at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
