JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 4 Florida softball team earned a five-inning victory over North Florida on Thursday evening at the UNF Softball Complex, downing the Ospreys 8-0.
It was a mirror score of the previous meeting between the two schools earlier this season on Feb. 11 in Gainesville.
Four different players turned in multi-hit performances, with Florida's offense combining for 11 hits.
Freshman
Taylor Shumaker drove in a team-best three runs, her 15
th multi-RBI game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a double, a stolen base and a walk.
Junior
Jocelyn Erickson went 2-of-2 at the dish with two RBI and a sacrifice fly.
For the second game in a row, both sophomores
Mia Williams and
Ava Brown hit solo home runs, going back-to-back to open the fourth inning.
In the circle, freshman
Katelynn Oxley (5-2) threw a gem, picking up her second career complete-game victory, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out a pair of Ospreys.
NOTABLES:
- The Gators (30-4) improve to 18-0 all-time and 2-0 this season against North Florida (23-10)
- Florida is 4-0 in Jacksonville against the Ospreys
- The Orange & Blue are 9-0 against in-state opponents this season
- Florida has shut out opponents 12 times this season, the fourth-most of any team in the NCAA
- The Gators have shut out North Florida in the last four meetings and in 12 of the 18 all-time meetings
- Senior Kendra Falby extended her on-base streak to 34 games
- Falby also stole her 30th base of the season. She is now eight stolen bases away from setting a new program record for career stolen bases. The current record is 119, which is held by Skylar Wallace
- She is 30-for-31 on the base path this season, which is tied for seventh-most stolen bases in a single season in program history
- Junior Jocelyn Erickson extended her on-base streak to 12 games
- She tallied her 10th multi-hit and 11th multi-RBI outing this season
- Erickson also recorded her fourth sacrifice fly, tied for a team-high
- With three RBI against North Florida, Taylor Shumaker now has 53 RBI this season
- She moved into No. 3 in program history for most runs driven in by a freshman
- Shumaker recorded her team-best 10th double against North Florida, moving into a tie for ninth-most by a Florida freshman
- For the second time this season, and fourth time in her career, Mia Williams has hit home runs in consecutive games
- Williams has 11 home runs this season, the second-most on the team
- Ava Brown has now has hit home runs in consecutive games three times in her career and one time this season
- The Gators have tallied multiple home runs in 20 games this season and in both games against the Ospreys
- Florida has recorded 19 run-rule victories this season, including seven against Florida schools
- Five different players recorded a stolen base against the Ospreys: Rylee Holtorf, Kylie Shaw, Falby, Shumaker, and Erickson
- The Gators are 74-for-77 in stolen bases attempts this season
UP NEXT:
Florida is back in action on March 26 at UCF at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
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