Ryan Schmitz (Photo Courtesy of Florida Athletics)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 1/2 Gator Softball team will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., this weekend to participate in the Easton Desert Classic. Florida will play five games over three days at the tournament, which is hosted by UNLV.
The Orange and Blue will play a doubleheader on both Friday and Saturday, with a single game on Sunday. On Friday, UF opens play against Seattle University at noon EST, followed by Hawaii at approximately 2:15 p.m. Saturday features contests against Ohio State (noon) and Cal State Northridge (2:15 p.m.), and the Gators wrap up their stay in Vegas in Sunday’s noon finale against Minnesota.
Wednesday’s game can be heard locally on WGGG 1230-AM. Mike Gillespie and former Gator All-American Megan Bush will have the call. Fans also can follow the game on Gametracker, which is available on the team’s schedule page.
Florida is off to a 6-0 start after the first week of play, and has climbed to the top spot in the rankings in this week’s ESPN.com / USA Softball poll. Florida stands at No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA poll.
Gator Bites—Quick Notables
Florida has won 804 games in program history, and collected No. 800 Friday against Illinois State at the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament…Senior Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla.) has a career record of 99-23, and will become the second Gator hurler to reach the 100-win mark with her next victory…Gator Great Stacey Nelson is currently the only member of UF’s 100-win club.
Looking Back at the Opening Week
The Gators went 6-0 in Tampa, defeating then-No. 23/25 USF in the season opener Thursday before earning wins over No. 4/5 Michigan, Wisconsin (twice), Illinois State and Bethune-Cookman…Junior pitcher Lauren Haeger earned two wins during the week, including her first career no-hitter Sunday in Florida’s second win over the Badgers, for which she garnered SEC Pitcher of the Week honors.
