The University of South Florida softball team will travel to Gainesville for a midweek clash with No. 2 Florida on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The midweek game will be the last non-conference game of 2011 for the Bulls, who will turn their attention to BIG EAST play beginning this weekend as they host Syracuse at the USF Softball Stadium.
Freshman Stephanie Medina enters the week with one of the
hottest bats on the team. The rookie slugger leads USF in batting average (.400),
home runs (5), runs batted in (34), doubles (8), slugging percentage (.671) and
on-base percentage (.471). Medina's eight-game hitting streak ended over the
weekend at St. John's, but she has a hit
in 11 of her past 14 games including six multi-hit games in that same
span.
The Bulls began BIG EAST play over the weekend with a trip to Queens, N.Y. to take of the St. John's Red Storm. Due to poor field conditions and bad weather in the area, the first two games of the three-game set were postponed to a later date, but the Bulls and Red Storm did play one game on Sunday. USF got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning and held on to run-rule St. John's 10-2 in five innings.
Junior Gina Kafalas has been to key to the USF offense in 2011. The leadoff hitter is batting. 363 on the season in a team-high 113 at-bats with 30 runs scored. Kaflas has an impressive .424 on-base percentage and is a remarkable 17-18 in stolen base attempts, tops on the team. The junior slap-hitter has collected 14 multi-hit games on the season and has scored multiple runs in 10 games for the Bulls. Kafalas led the Bulls in their opening conference game of the year against St. John's by scattering a pair of hits while scoring a pair of runs in the 10-2 rout of the Red Storm. Kafalas singled and scored the first run of the game for USF in the opening frame to help give the Bulls the early 2-0 advantage.
The Gators enter the midweek set as one of the most talented teams in the country. Florida comes in ranked fifth in the country, their lowest ranking of the season to date after being swept over the weekend by No. Georgia. The three-game losing streak is the longest of the season for the Gators as they have lost just four total games on the year with the only other one coming at the hands of No. 16 Nebraska at the USF Under Armour Showcase.
Florida boasts a powerful lineup with four players batting at least .400 on the season led by Michelle Moultrie, who is hitting .460 entering the game against the Bulls. Megan Bush is arguably the Gators most feared hitter as she enters with a .453 average with a team-high 16 home runs and 57 RBI.
The Gators use primarily two pitchers in Stephanie Brombacher and Hannah Rogers. Brombacher is a perfect 14-0 with a 0.67 ERA in 84.0 innings pitched with 88 strikeouts on the year, while Rogers is 16-2 in 103.2 innings with a 0.74 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 2011.
The Bulls and Gators have met twice already in the 2011 season with Florida taking both matchups. In the opening weekend of play, USF fell to Florida 12-0 in five innings, and in the second matchup at the USF Under Armour Showcase the Bulls fell again 10-2 in six innings.
The Bulls are 12-30 all-time against the Gators and have lost 11 consecutive meetings. The Bulls last win against Florida came in 2005.
