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The Florida Gators didn’t get off to the best of starts in Oklahoma City.
Playing the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in the opening round of the 2019 Women’s College World Series, the Gators fell 2-1 to drop into the Elimination Bracket.
A former SEC star stole the show on Thursday night. Coincidentally, ‘show’ is her last name, as Samatha Show pitched well in the circle and made an impact with her bat. A loud one at that, as she socked a home run in the 1st inning as the second batter of the game. She took the great Kelly Barnhill deep and put UF in an early hole.
Not surprisingly, the Gators battled back eventually and equalized the game. They did so on the strength of a solo home run as well. This particular bomb was hit by Jordan Roberts, who hit a spectacular blast to right center field in the bottom of the 2nd.
The game was tied for the next few innings, but in the top of the 6th, Show struck yet again. She homered off of Barnhill again, another solo shot, to give the Cowgirls a 2-1 lead. Show’s two hits were the only hits of the entire day off the otherwise untouchable Barnhill, which may make her an even bigger thorn in the side when you take that into account.
She stifled Florida batters in the circle, too. She let up six hits on the night, but the Gators could only produce the one run off the homer by Roberts. They left five runners off base and came away with just two extra base hits all day. The aforementioned homer by Roberts, as well as a double off the bat of Amanda Lorenz, which came all the way back in the bottom of the 1st.
Show had just two strikeouts on the day but induced six flyouts and a whopping 13 groundouts. She threw 72 strikes amongst her 109 pitches, proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Kelly Barnhill, meanwhile, had nine strikeouts to just one walk, eight flyouts and four groundouts. But the damage done by Show was just too much for her and the Gators to handle.
Florida will now await the loser of Oklahoma-Alabama, as they could wind up facing their friends from Tuscaloosa in an all-important elimination game later this weekend.