The Florida softball team sent 11 hitters to the plate in a sixth-run bottom of the fifth inning Saturday against Mississippi State in Gainesville.
What had been a 3-2 MSU lead had long since disappeared by the time the Gators’ Charla Echols, up for the second time, flied out to the warning track in left center field to finally bring the frame to a close.
In need of a comeback, Mississippi State came to the plate in the top of the sixth. All three Bulldogs batters struck out swinging.
That was the difference as MSU (15-9, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) lost Saturday’s SEC opener to Florida (22-1, 1-0 SEC) by a score of 8-4.
The Gators just kept hitting, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to take the lead by the time Cheyenne Lindsey scored Echols with a single up the middle in the sixth. A missed catch on a wind-aided ball in right field with two out plated a run and extended the inning, and Florida took advantage.
Katie Kistler made it a 6-3 game with a double, and Alabama transfer Skylar Wallace ripped a two-run single to extend the lead.
In just two innings, Florida had erased Mississippi State’s early lead.
The Bulldogs took advantage of shaky control by the Gators’ Elizabeth Hightower, scoring their first run on a wild pitch in the third inning. Freshman Riley Hull and New Mexico State transfer Matalasi Faapito each had RBI singles in the fourth.
Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts told the SEC Network midgame that the Bulldogs knew how they wanted to attack Hightower, whom they saw in all three games last year in Starkville and again in the SEC tournament.
“Really, I liked that we’re sticking with our game plan and just continuing to compete up and down the lineup,” Ricketts said in the middle of the fourth inning.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that’s when things began to go south. Florida broke through against Kenley Hawk for two fourth-inning runs, scoring one on a wild pitch and another on a single slapped into left field on a half-swing by the Gators’ Kendra Falby.
Wallace led off the fifth with an infield single before Echols came up just short of a two-run home run on one pitch and ripped a tying RBI double on the next to kickstart Florida’s big inning.
Mississippi State had a shot to get back into the game in the seventh as the Bulldogs loaded the bases and Madisyn Kennedy walked to force in a run.
But Jackie McKenna flied out foul to left field, and Aquana Brownlee grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to put the capper on Saturday’s game.
Mississippi State will face Florida at 3 p.m. Sunday in Game 2 of the series.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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