The No. 1 Florida Gators completed a three-game sweep Sunday of the Texas A&M softball team with a 9-1 victory in a five-inning run rule.
The No. 25 Aggies (34-17, 9-12 SEC) got on the board quickly Sunday with a solo home run from freshman Tori Vidales. The Aggies started freshman Kayla Ober on Sunday looking for a solid pitching performance against a Gator lineup that showed explosiveness in the first two games in the series. Head coach Jo Evans only received two innings out of Ober because the Gator bats got going early in the game, getting three early runs in the bottom half of the first and two more in the second.
Evans sent senior Rachel Fox and junior Katie Marks to the circle to stop the bleeding and slow down the Gator attack, but by that time the deficit was too great to overcome. The Gators (47-4, 16-4 SEC) strengthened their grip on the top spot in the country with a convincing sweep of the Aggies. The Aggies scored some runs off of a very talented pitching staff, but the Gator bats stepped up and helped their staff out, showing the balance of a top team. One bright spot for the Aggies was sophomore Celena Massey, who hit two home runs Saturday.
“I’m so proud of that kid, for how hard she’s worked, for getting in the lineup and being a great team player,” Evans said. “She just works hard to help us win. She has just performed recently.”
The Aggies come back home to play a midweek game against Texas State. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.