No. 7 Arkansas took advantage of some uncharacteristic defensive issues by No. 8 Florida and Chenise Delce was again strong in the circle as the Razorbacks snapped a 30-game losing streak to the Gators in SEC softball Friday night.
The Razorbacks took control with five unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning and cruised to a 9-1 run-rule win in the battle of top 10 teams at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
It was the first win for Arkansas over Florida in 15 years and it came in just six innings. The Razorbacks’ last win over the Gators came on April 7, 2007, at Gainesville.
Arkansas (33-8, 12-4 SEC) also strengthened its grip on first place in the SEC thanks to the win, combined with Texas A&M’s 6-4 win over second-place Alabama. The Crimson Tide dropped to 13-6 in the league.
It was a matchup of the two teams that shared last year’s league title despite not playing during the regular season.
Arkansas Coach Courtney Deifel said her team stressed a business-like approach for the rest of the weekend.
“It just counts as one regardless,” Deifel said. “We got to get back to business [today], but it is always nice to get the first one.”
Arkansas first baseman Danielle Gibson broke the game open with a three-run double into the right-center field gap in the fifth to give the Razorbacks a 4-0 lead as part of a five-run inning. Linnie Malkin added a two-out RBI single to push the Arkansas advantage to 5-0 off Florida starter Elizabeth Hightower (12-3).
Florida, which started Friday with the fewest errors of any team in the SEC, made back-to-back mistakes to open the door for the big inning. But Deifel said her team kept the pressure on the Gators (32-10, 11-8).
“I honestly thought we had a very patient approach,” Deifel said. “We made her throw a lot of pitches and then just made things happen. We got some really big hits. We got some hits that they misplayed to give us some momentum. It was a little mixture of everything.
“So I just thought it was a very mature approach at the plate and I was very pleased with our offense tonight. They are just really composed competitors and I was really pleased with the tone they set early.”
Gibson went 1 for 4, but drove in 4 runs, while Malkin had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Freshman Kacie Hoffman also added two hits for Arkansas.
Arkansas added four more runs in the sixth and two of those were aided by Gators’ mistakes. Taylor Ellsworth drew a bases-loaded walk and Malkin drove in another with an infield single.
Delce (12-2) allowed 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings, struck out 8 and walked 2. The junior has allowed 2 runs over her past 19 innings in 3 straight wins in league play.
The second game of the three-game series is slated for 1:30 p.m. today and will be broadcast on ESPN2.