No. 5/7 Huskies Hand No. 1/3 Florida First Loss

Thursday, February 23

Cathedral City, Calif.

12:30 PM

University of Washington

1-0

Florida

0-1

Washington

Florida

February 23, 2012 | Softball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

Feb. 23, 2012

Final Stats

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. - For the first time all season No. 1/3 Florida (10-1) was behind in a game and the No. 5/7 Huskies (11-0) got the upset, handing the Gators their first loss of the season in the opening game for UW of the Cathedral City Classic, 5-2.

"It was good to start the weekend with a win," said head coach Heather Tarr. "I thought we played a pretty good game. We have a big weekend ahead of us though so we have to move on."

Sophomore Kaitlin Inglesby (Portland, Ore.) got the start, pitching the complete game, improving to 6-0 on the year. She allowed just two runs on seven hits, no walks and struck out five.

Lauren Haeger got the start in the circle for Florida, allowing four earned runs, five total, on three hits in 5.0 innings. Alyssa Bache finished off the game, pitching the final two innings, allowing three hits.

UW put Florida down 1-0 after the first. It was the first time all season that the Gators had trailed.

Senior Kimi Pohlman (Sammamish, Wash.) led off the game with a triple to center. She would have two of the six Husky hits in the game. She scored on a sacrifice fly by fellow senior Nikia Williams (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

Sami Fagan led off the bottom of the first for Florida with an infield single to shortstop. With Fagan on third, Inglesby got the strikeout and junior Shawna Wright (Lancaster, Calif.) threw to first to secure the third out.

In the third inning, Florida took a 2-1 lead. Kasey Fagan singled and Katie Medina tripled to right field as the Gators tied the game at 1-1. A single by Sami Fagan down the left field line drove in Medina for a 2-1 lead. Wright threw out Fagan out second to end the inning.

UW re-took the lead for good in the fifth as freshman Kimberlee Souza (Waialua, Hawai'i) drew a walk to start the rally. Sophomore Whitney Jones (Upland, Calif.) pinch ran and reached second on a successful sacrifice bunt by freshmen Kylee Lahners (Laguna Hills, Calif.).

Sophomore Hooch Fagaly (Chino, Calif.) reached on an error and Jones scored from second on the play to tie the game, 2-2. Freshman Courtney Gano (West Covina, Calif.) scored from second on a single by Wright to make it 3-2 Huskies.

Pohlman led off the sixth with an infield single as the Huskies got two insurance runs in the inning. She reached second on a wild pitch and sophomore Victoria Hayward (Mountain View, Calif.) walked on four pitches. Williams followed with a walk as the bases were loaded for Inglesby. The Husky pitcher hit a sacrifice fly as Pohlman scored the fourth UW run of the game. Lahners followed with a blooper to left center as Hayward scored.

Florida made a great attempt to come back in the seventh with hits by the last two hitters in their lineup. However, Inglesby and the Husky defense made some great plays with the tying run at the plate to secure the victory.

"I thought it was a really good team win," said Inglesby."We wanted to come out and make a statement and I think we did a good job of that; never let up and kept pouring it on."

UW continues the tournament by taking on Texas A&M at 10:30 a.m. Friday, followed by a matchup with Georgia at 1 p.m. Live stats are available at www.gohuskies.com.