UA SOFTBALL: Hedgecock homers twice and Delce dominates Florida again in SEC series win Sunday

Arkansas’ Rylin Hedgecock ((CQ)) is greeted at home plate by Hannah Gammill (20) after scoring in the first inning against Florida Sunday March 26, 2023 at Bogel Park in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks won 14-1 in 5 innings. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery.   (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler).
Arkansas’ Rylin Hedgecock ((CQ)) is greeted at home plate by Hannah Gammill (20) after scoring in the first inning against Florida Sunday March 26, 2023 at Bogel Park in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks won 14-1 in 5 innings. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler).


FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas softball program is running out of firsts, but found another milestone to check off its to-do list Sunday.

The No. 12 Razorbacks had never claimed a series win against Florida at home, but they did just that this weekend, taking the SEC series from the No. 8 Gators in dominating fashion with a 14-1 rout in Bogle Park in five innings in front of 3,180 fans.

Rylin Hedgecock blasted a pair of home runs and drove in seven runs, and senior right-handed pitcher Chenise Delse (12-4) continued her mastery of Florida. Delse is 5-0 against the Gators the past two seasons.

"It was an outstanding game," Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel said. "To jump on them early and then just be relentless as we went, just really, really pleased with the collective effort today. Obviously, if you put up 14 on a team like Florida you're gonna be pleased with the effort."

For Delse, it was just business as usual. She surrendered just two hits with seven strikeouts in another dominating performance against Florida (23-6, 3-3 SEC).

"This series I really just focused on spinning," Delce said. "Me and Coach Deifel have worked the whole week and that was something we kind of wanted to get back to doing a lot. This was the series to do that and I'm pretty happy about it."

Arkansas (24-9, 5-4) belted 12 hits with Hedgecock accounting for three extra-base hits. The redshirt junior added a double to her two-homer barrage.

The Razorbacks wasted no time heating their bats up. In the first with two on, Hedgecock homered to left field, her 13th dinger of the season to give her team a 3-0 lead.

"It feels really good," Hedgecock said. "My main goal today was to just hit the ball. Yesterday I didn't really hit the ball, so I was just trying to get a good pitch and put a good swing on it."

In the second, Atalyia Rijo blasted a line drive to deep right field for one RBI and reached third on the throw. Reagan Johnson singled down the left field line for one RBI and next up Raigan Kramer tripled to deep center field to send Johnson home and a 6-0 lead.

Arkansas wasn't done. Hedgecock added a run-scoring double and Cylie Halvorson kept up the momentum with a line drive double down the right-field line to add to the lead.

"One of the best hitting games we've had all around as a team," Hedgecock said. "I just feel like we all let the balls go by and got our pitch. We drove [our hits] deep into the outfield."

Hedgecock did more damage with another three-run homer for a 12-0 lead.

"I was just happy for her," Deifel said. "I don't think [Hedgecock] was in a great place mentally. We have been continuing to teach them through that and coach them through that. It's like 'Hey don't carry [bad at-bats] with you and be in the moment.' And she did a really great job of that today."

Delce closed the final game of the series the same way she wrapped the first game, with a swinging strikeout. During this series, Delce broke triple digits in strikeouts for the season.

Arkansas, which has won three of its past four games and back-to-back SEC series, is off until Friday when it travels to Mississippi State for a three-game series.

"Every week is tough," Deifel said. "I was so locked in on Florida, someone had to remind me what we have this weekend. Now I will shift my focus and I'll get ready for Mississippi State. But we're gonna enjoy this series win, it's a really big one. Friday was our first time to ever beat [Florida] in Bogle, so to win this series is huge."


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