Gators’ hot bats and Delbrey’s no-hitter sweep

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The eighth-ranked Florida softball team closed out the Bubly Invitational with a pair of run-rule wins over RV/No. 24 Louisiana, 11-2 (5 innings), and Rutgers, 10-1 (5 innings), Sunday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

The Gators (19-4) bounced back in a big way after yesterday’s loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns (18-9) as the team blasted three home runs en route to victory. Leading the way at the plate were Pal Egan (1-for-2), Olivia Gigante (1-for-3) and Emily Wilkie (2-for-3) as the trio produced eight homers with nine RBI. in the game.

It was Egan’s two-run blast in the bottom of the 2nd inning that ignited the Florida offense. The Bakersfield, California native launched an 0-1 offering from Meghan Schorman’s home run over the right field wall for the first two games.

Wilkie started the rally in the bottom of the 3rd inning and extended the Gators lead to 6-0 with his home run that bounced off the top of the Florida pitching lab over the left field wall. The rally continued when the Orange & Blue got an RBI walk from Charla Echols, which was then followed by a Grand Slam Gigante to push the UF lead to 11-0.

The Ragin’ Cajuns pushed back in the top of the 4th inning and scored a pair of runs on a solo home run to center field and an RBI groundout, but UF thwarted their effort to extend the game past five innings.

In the Gators’ final game of the day, sophomore Lexie Delbrey pitched the first no-hitter of her career in the Orange & Blue’s win over the Scarlet Knights (17-8). The Bainbridge, Ga. native has thrown three complete-game one-hitters in his career, but finished his first no-hitter in just 51 pitches.

The feat also became the second no-hitter thrown by a Florida pitcher this weekend as Mercer’s Rylee Trlicek no-hit just the day before. Offensively, Florida used the long ball again to start the scoring. Redshirt-junior Skylar Wallace wasted no time putting UF ahead 2-0 with his fifth home run of the year that left the field past the 220-foot mark up the middle.

Echols followed up with a home run of his own in the bottom of the 3rd inning that started another rally that included an RBI groundout from Egan and an Avery Goelz RBI single up the middle that pushed the Gators’ lead out to 7-1.

The Gators wrapped up the scoring for the day in the bottom of the 4th inning thanks to an error by the Rutgers right fielder that scored a pair of runs, while Goelz put the game into run-rule territory with a two-RBI single to right field. with two out.

Florida continues play at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on Wednesday, March 15, with game one against Bucknell at 6 p.m. on SEC Network +.

Notable:

• The Gators open-reigned RV/No. 24 Louisiana, 11-2 (5 innings), in the first game of the day and 10-1 (5 innings) in the win over Rutgers to close the tournament.
  – Overall, the Orange & Blue have posted 14 run-rule victories in 2023. In 2022, the program has 13 total run-rule victories.
• Florida has outscored opponents 198-47 on the year and is averaging 8.61 runs per game.
  – UF has produced 11 games with 10 or more runs this year.
• Sophomore Lexie Delbrey pitched the first no-hitter of her career in the Gators’ win over Rutgers to close out the Bubly Invitational.
  – It was also the 34th complete-game no-hitter in program history and the second complete-game no-hitter this weekend for the Gators. Senior Rylee Trlicek hurled a no-hitter against Mercer yesterday.
• Freshman Olivia Gigante hit her second grand slam of the season in the Gators’ win over RV/No. 24 Louisiana today.
  – Overall, Florida has hit three Grand Slams this season.
  – This week Gigante hit .375 (6-for-16) with a double, three home runs and eight total RBI.
• Skylar Wallace extended his base hitting streak to 19 games.
• Charla Echols pushed her hitting streak to eight games and has reached base safely in 10 straight.
  – This week in six games played, Echols hit .563 (9-for-16) with two doubles and two home runs with seven runs scored and 11 RBI.
• Graduate transfer Pal Egan wrapped up his week with a .375 average (3-for-8) with one double, two home runs and nine RBI.