It was an impressive week for the Southeastern Conference’s reigning Pitcher of the Week. It culminated with Florida sophomore pitcher Kelly Barnhill earning her second consecutive SEC pitching award.
Barnhill began her week with a two inning performance against Florida State in which she earned a victory. Florida State entered the game with the highest batting average in the country. Barnhill didn’t allow a hit against the Seminoles.
Barnhill was on the mound for two of the three games in Florida’s weekend conference matchup with #21 Kentucky. Barnhill won both of her contests against the Wildcats while striking out a ridiculous 15 batters in each game. Barnhill pitched two complete game shutouts and in the Sunday series finale, she pitched a no-hitter.
Per the SEC release:
Barnhill earned three victories in the circle for the Gators this past week, including two-complete game shutouts. She came in the sixth inning of Florida’s non-conference tilt against No. 2 Florida State and gave up zero hits in the last two innings to a team that was leading the nation in batting average. Barnhill then registered back-to-back complete game shutouts at No. 21/22 Kentucky to clinch the series for Florida. She recorded 15 strikeouts in both Friday’s and Sunday’s games, with the series finale marking the second no-hitter of her career and the first this season. Barnhill has not allowed an earned run in her last 38.1 innings of work.
That’s awesome! So proud of her 😊