LEXINGTON, Ky. – Powered by a five-run first inning, the No. 5/8 Florida softball team (29-1, 5-1 SEC) secured its second straight Southeastern Conference sweep with a 9-0 six-inning victory over Kentucky (19-9, 1-5 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at John Cropp Stadium.

The Gators outscored the Wildcats 28-2 in the series, recording back-to-back shutouts on Saturday and Sunday and winning in run-rule fashion in all three games.

Florida has now won seven straight against Kentucky going back to the 2023 season.

Jocelyn Erickson hit her third home run of the series with a three-run shot in the top of the sixth, her 16^th home run of the season, a new single-season career-best.

The senior catcher hit a home run in each of the three games against the Wildcats, finishing the weekend with a team-best 8 RBIs.

Townsen Thomas, who went 2-for-3 on Sunday, finished the series batting a team-best .667 (6-for-9) with four doubles, four RBIs and a walk.

In the circle, Keagan Rothrock (16-1) tossed her 13^th career complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits with two strikeouts, improving to 5-0 in SEC play.

The junior right-handed pitcher now holds a 19-6 career record in conference play.

NOTABLES:

• Taylor Shumaker led off the top of the first inning with her 12^th home run of the season, a solo shot to center field
  

  • It was her second leadoff home run this season and third first-inning home run

    • She led off the Feb. 27 match up against No. 8/9 UCLA with a solo home run and hit a three-run home run in her second at-bat of the first inning against East Texas A&M on Feb. 26

• Of Townsen Thomas’s eight doubles this season, four were in Lexington this weekend

  • Thomas is batting a team-best .500 (9-for-18) through the first six games of SEC play

• Cassidy McLellan batted .625 (5-for-8) with two doubles, two home runs, six RBIs and two walks against the Wildcats, including multi-hit games on both Friday and Sunday
• Keagan Rothrock has now tossed three complete-game shutouts this season: vs. Middle Tennessee (Feb. 22), vs. Cal (Feb. 26) and now vs. Kentucky (March 15)
• Thomas (14 games), Erickson (14 games) and Shumaker (12 games) all extended their double-digit hit streaks
• Kenleigh Cahalan extended her on-base streak to 30 games. She has reached in every game this season
• The last time Florida swept back-to-back SEC series was 2021 when the Gators went 3-0 at Mississippi State on March 19-21, followed by a 3-0 home series win over LSU on March 26-28
• The last time the Gators opened conference play with back-to-back sweeps was 2011 – Florida won both games of its series vs. Mississippi State on March 16 and went 3-0 at Ole Miss on March 18-20 that season
• The Gators have now swept Kentucky in back-to-back series, including the 2024 series in Gainesville
• This weekend marked Florida’s first sweep over the Wildcats in Lexington since 2009, when the Gators went 2-0 over Kentucky. It’s the first time that Florida has recorded a three-game series sweep at Kentucky since the 2007 season

  • It’s also the first time since 2005 that the Gators have earned run-rule victories over the Wildcats in all three games of the weekend series. Florida went 3-0 in Lexington that season with three six-inning wins

• The Gators are 63-17 all-time against Kentucky, with a 27-10 mark in Lexington

UP NEXT:
The Gators return to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on March 20-22 to host No. 1 Tennessee. Florida’s annual Yellow Game is slated for Saturday, March 21.

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