UF Softball: No. 5 Gators Clinch Series Over No. 13 LSU

Courtesy of University Athletic Association

BY HERB BROOKS

Hannah Adams turned in a career-high 4-for-4 performance at the plate and extended her hit streak out to 11 games

No. 5 Florida clinched the series over No. 13 LSU with a 7-4 victory Saturday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Hannah Adams posted a career-high four hits, while Jaimie Hoover and Kendyl Lindaman launched a pair of two-run home runs to seal the victory.

The Gators (23-3, 7-1 SEC) cranked out 12 hits and kept the pressure on the Tigers (18-10, 4-4 SEC) the entire game, as leadoff batters for the Orange & Blue were 4-for-6 (.667) at the plate and the team as a whole was 9-for-22 (.409) with runners on base.

Florida used that pressure to capitalize early and often to start the game. Adams set the tempo from the beginning as she started the game with a single through the right side and was quickly driven home via Lindaman’s fourth home run of the season off LSU starting pitcher Ali Kilponen (5-4).

Kilponen issued Charla Echols a walk in the next at-bat and managed to force a pair of groundouts in an attempt to escape the inning, but Hoover took a 3-1 pitch that was low and away opposite field for just her second home run of the season.

The pair of two-run home runs by Lindaman and Hoover in the 1^st inning gave the Gators an early 4-0 lead and a cushion for left-handed starting pitcher Katie Chronister (6-1).

Chronister worked through the Tigers lineup in order for the first two innings of play and didn’t give up her first hit until the 3^rd inning with two outs on the board.

Meanwhile the Gators were able to tack on one run in both the 2^nd and 3^rd innings to take a 5-0 lead. Echols produced an RBI infield single to third that scored Sarah Longley in the 2^nd, and Adams drove home Hoover with her RBI single up the middle in the 3rd. 

LSU finally connected against Chronister in the 4^th inning of play and rallied to close down the Florida lead to 6-4 via four runs on five hits. Natalie Lugo entered the circle with one out in the inning and held the Tigers’ bats in check as she scattered three hits over the final 3.2 innings for her third save of the season.

Florida tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the 5^th after the LSU rally via a Julia Cottrill RBI double that scored Adams easily and nearly plated the speedy Katie Kistler, but a good 7-6-2 relay to home plate just made it in time to catch Kistler’s outstretched arm.

The Gators and the Tigers will wrap up the series Sunday at 11 a.m. (ET) on the SEC Network +.

Notable Notes:

• Florida improved to 34-35 all-time against LSU and 15-13 when playing at KSP Stadium.
  • Under head coach Tim Walton, the Gators are 27-14 against the Tigers.
• Lindaman added two more RBI to her career total and now has 225, which ranks second all-time amongst active NCAA players.
  • Today’s two-RBI performance was her team-leading seventh multi-RBI game of the season.
  • The Ankeny, Iowa native is also riding a 14-game reached base safely streak.
• Hannah Adams went 4-for-4 to extend her career-long hit streak out to 11 games.
  • The streak is now the longest of the season and is tied for the 14^th longest streak in program history and tied for 6^th longest amongst seniors.
  • This is the second consecutive season two Gators have produced a pair of hit streaks of 10 or more games. Cheyenne Lindsey turned in a 10-game hit streak earlier this season.
    • 2020 – Kendyl Lindaman – 15 games & 10 games
    • 2020 – Charla Echols – 10 games
• Jaimie Hoover belted her second home run of the season to give the Gators a 4-0 lead in the 1^st inning of play.
  • She is now on a three-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in the last five games.
• Julia Cottrill’s 2-for-4 performance was her seventh multi-hit game of the season and her fourth in the last five games played.
  • She is now 9-for-15 (.600) over the last five games played.