GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 5/8 Florida softball team (24-1, 1-0 SEC) opened Southeastern Conference play with a 5-4 win over Missouri (7-14, 0-1 SEC) on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,029 fans at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

Florida scored all five of its runs from three home runs off the bats of Ella Wesolowski, Townsen Thomas and Jocelyn Erickson.

Wesolowski put the Gators on the board first with a solo home run in the second inning, Thomas tied up the game at 3 with a two-run shot in the fourth inning and Erickson put Florida in front for good with a two-run home run in the sixth.

In the circle, Keagan Rothrock (12-1) struck out 10 Tigers, a new career-best in SEC play, throwing her sixth complete-game of the season.

Rothrock now holds a 61-17 career record in the circle, including a 15-6 career mark in conference play.

NOTABLES:

• Townsen Thomas has now hit two home runs this season, both two-run shots
• With her solo home run in the bottom of the second, Ella Wesolowski has now hit four home runs this season, a new single-season career-best

  • Four of her 10 career home runs have come against SEC opponents
  • Three of her four home runs this season have been solo home runs

• Jocelyn Erickson has hit a team-best 12 home runs this season, nine of which have been two-run home runs

  • Erickson has slugged 42 home runs as a Gator, moving into sole possession of eighth-most home runs in program history

• Keagan Rothrock has now tallied double-digit strikeouts three times this season and five times in her career
• Kenleigh Cahalan extended her on-base streak to 25 games

  • Both Cahalan and Erickson are on nine-game hitting streaks, a team-high
  • Cahalan has recorded a hit in 22 of 25 games this season

• Taylor Shumaker has recorded multi-hit games in six of the last seven games

  • Shumaker now has 14 multi-hit games this season, a team-best

• The Gators have tallied 17 multi-home run games this season and 11 games with three or more home runs

  • Florida has hit multiple home runs in eight straight games

• Florida is now 13-0 at Katie Seashole Pressly and 8-0 on Saturdays

UP NEXT:
The Gators will go for the series win against Missouri on Sunday at 4 p.m. on SEC Network.

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