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FPN NCAA Softball Game of the Week No. 1 Florida vs. No. 9 Washington

Florida-Softball

This week we will focus in on the nation’s top team No. 1 Florida and their game with the red hot No. 9 Washington Huskies. The Gator’s come into the weekend with a perfect 11-0 record. They may only have one ranked win, but that one was a runaway 8-0 win over No. 2 Michigan. They will No. 11 UCLA later today in their first game at the Mary Nutter Classic. Washington is 9-1 so far and is an impressive 4-1 against top 20 opponents.

Florida has made it pretty clear to this point that they are the team to beat. As a team they are batting .358 outscoring their first 11 opponents 90-4. Leading the Gator’s offense is freshman and top recruit Amanda Lorenz. Lorenz is hitting at a .571 clip with 18 runs and 12 RBI. She has been walked 11 times opposed to just one strikeout. Sophomore Janell Wheaton is also off to a fast start with her .440 average and 13 RBI. These two have combined for 25% of the teams RBI through the first 11 games. We could keep listing Florida players having good starts to the season, but at the point we would be listing the entire starting line-up for the most part.

Not only is Florida scoring runs in bunches, they are not really allowing any with their dominating pitching staff led by Delanie Gourley (4-0). She comes into the weekend with a 0.00 ERA and 30 strikeouts. Opponents are batting just .094 against her. That is pretty much unhittable by any standard. Two others have pitched in as well in Aleshia Ocasio (4-0) and Kelly Barnhill (3-0). Combined the three have a 0.45 ERA. Ocasio leads the team with 32 strikeouts and has 0.28 ERA. Barnhill with 20 strikeouts and a 1.19 ERA. So far this season they appear to be almost untouchable. The 8-0 win over Michigan was very impressive considering the Wolverines may have one of the most dangerous line-ups from top to bottom. Yet Barnhill was able to hold them to just three hits.

Washington has faced some stiff competition already with half of their first 10 games coming against teams ranked in the top 20. They only dropped one and that was to No. 16 Texas A&M. The Huskies strength thus far has been their bats coming into the weekend with a .391 team average. The have four of their nine everyday starters batting above .400 and as a team they have 14 homeruns. Trysten Melhart is off to a strong start with a .500 average and 12 runs. Junior outfielder Julia DePonte may be their most dangerous hitting who is batting .444 with four homeruns and 18 RBI. The Huskies have 10 batters hitting above .350 right now and in 10 games they have scored 104 runs. One they lack compared to Florida is pitching depth. Their ace Madi Schreyer (4-0) has been solid posting a 1.40 ERA with 26 strikeouts. This is who the Gator’s will most likely face.

As stated already, Florida looks unstoppable. Washington is off to a hot start at the plate and that may put some pressure on Florida, but with the depth they have in the circle, Washington may be hard pressed to get anything going against them.

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