Gators Mercy Rule Huskies 9-0 In 5 Innings

Pitchers for both teams struggled all day throwing strikes as the umpire was calling an extremely tight and somewhat inconsistent strike zone. Florida's Hannah Rogers seemed able to adjust after a shaky first inning as she walked two batters, but was lights out the rest of the game as the Husky ladies couldn't get anything going offensively.

Kaitlin Inglesby, meanwhile, couldn't get a handle on the strike zone. A pitch she'd make one time would be a ball and the next time it'd be a strike, and then the next time it'd be back to a ball. Her troubles culminated in a bases loaded walk in the third inning which put Florida up 2-0, though to Inglesby's credit, she did get out of that inning allowing just one run when she got herself into a bases loaded jam with no outs. Unfortunately she got right back into a bad situation the next inning, putting runners on second and third with no outs, and she was replaced by Bryana Walker.

Coach Heather Tarr on the strike zone made no excuses, saying "We're not so bad that we need every single pitch to be called for us on offense or defense, we can be better than where we are right now."

The game was essentially over once Florida put together a seven run fourth inning to go ahead 9-0. There's a mercy rule in softball, and it's at eight or more runs after the 5th inning, so UW had to score at least two runs to extend the game. The Huskies strung a couple of hits together but couldn't get on the board and that was all she wrote.

The Huskies will get another shot at the Gators tomorrow morning in a must-win on ESPN, 9 am Pacific Time.