GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 12
th-ranked Florida softball team embarks to Athens, Ga., to take on No. 11 Georgia in a three-game Southeastern Conference rivalry series this Friday through Sunday at Jack Turner Stadium.
The Gators (37-11, 12-6 SEC) enter the SEC series against the Bulldogs (36-11, 10-8 SEC) after having won five of the six conference series played this season. The Orange & Blue currently sits in third place in the league standings, just two games behind league-leader Tennessee, while UGA currently sits in fifth place overall.
UF looks to bounce back from its midweek loss to Florida State this past Wednesday. The offense still holds a .346 batting average with 87 doubles, 16 triples and 66 home runs.
Reagan Walsh went 2-for-3 in the effort and smashed her 15
th home run of the season and extended her reached base safely streak out to 15 games, while
Korbe Otis extended her hit-streak out to eight games.
On the bases,
Skylar Wallace still sits at 110 stolen bases, which is just three shy of the Florida career-record 113 stolen bases held by Kelsey Stewart.
Florida's pitching staff still holds a 2.54 team ERA with freshman
Keagan Rothrock (18-5) leading the way. Rothrock was announced to the TUCCI/NFCA Division I Freshman of the Year Top 25 list earlier this afternoon. The Whiteland, Ind., native's 18 wins currently rank fifth nationally among all freshmen pitchers and her five complete-game shutouts also rank third nationally among freshmen.
Georgia boasts a .304 team batting average with six batters over the .300 mark in its lineup. They are led by Jayda Kearney (.365), Sydney Kuma (.364), Dallis Goodnight (.361), Jaydyn Goodwin (.341), Sara Mosely (.322) and Ellie Armistead (.315). Kearney leads the team overall in hits (50) and home runs (15), while Mosey holds the team lead in RBI (53).
In the circle for UGA, Lilli Backes (13-5) easily holds the most inning pitched in the rotation with 112.0 innings on the season and also leads the team with five saves on the year. Overall as a staff, UGA sports a 2.38 ERA, which is led individually by Backes also who holds a 2.25 ERA. Madison Kerpics (11-2) holds the second most wins among the staff, while Shelby Walters (7-4) holds the second most innings pitched with 83.1.
This weekend's series will air digitally on SEC Network + Friday at 6 p.m., with both Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m. airing nationally on ESPN2.
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