The Gators rallied down from 5-2 with four runs in the bottom of the 7th inning, which included a walk-off three-run home run by Reagan Walsh.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 14th-ranked Florida softball team rallied to defeat Ole Miss, 6-5, in walk-off fashion to open the series Friday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. It’s the fifth walk-off of the season for UF.
The Gators (33-15, 9-10 SEC) scored four unanswered runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to defeat the Rebels (27-21, 6-12 SEC). The Orange & Blue trailed 5-2 entering the final frame of the game, but had the top of the order due up with Skylar Wallace set to leadoff.
Wallace initiated the rally with a single up the middle and Kendra Falby fought through a six-pitch at bat to draw a full-count walk from Rebels reliever Brooke Vestal (5-3) that put runners on first and second with no outs. That brought Charla Echols to the plate, who drove in Wallace when she ripped a single to center for her third RBI of the game and moved Falby to third.
The table was set and brought the go-ahead run in Reagan Walsh to the plate. The Redondo Beach, Calif. native watched two pitches from Vestal land out of the zone for a pair of balls before she crushed her seventh home run of the season over the left field wall for a three-run home run that completed the comeback.
Florida also blasted its way on the scoreboard thanks to a two-run home run by Echols in the bottom of the 1st inning. The Newnan, Ga. native lifted the pitch offered from starting pitcher Makenna Kliethermes off the light pole in right field to score Falby, who reached via a one-out single to the shortstop in the previous at-bat that gave UF an initial 2-0 lead over the Rebels.
Ole Miss went on to strike back and score an unearned run in the top half of the 3rd inning of play that closed down the UF lead to 2-1. Paige Smith scored Tate Whitley on a SAC fly to center field after a pair of infield singles and an error.
The Rebels tied the game in the top of the 4th inning via a one out RBI double to left center field by Brooke Barnard. The score prompted a pitching change as Rylee Trlicek (12-3) relieved right-handed starter Elizabeth Hightower to stall the rally, but a wild pitch allowed Jalia Lassiter to score the go-ahead run that gave Ole Miss the lead 3-2 before the inning ended.
Smith pushed the Rebels lead out to 4-2 with a solo home run on the first pitch offered in the top of the 5th inning of play and with runners on the corners later in the inning an attempt to steal second base allowed the runner from third to score to extend the lead out to 5-2.
Trlicek and the Gators rallied in the circle and on defense to hold Ole Miss scoreless for the final two frames, which setup Walsh’s walk-off moment.
The two teams return to action for Florida’s senior day at 12 p.m. (ET) Saturday, April 29, on SEC Network+. The game was moved up due to inclement weather during the originally scheduled time.
Notables:
* Tonight’s walk-off was the fifth of the season for Florida.
* Feb. 18, 2023 – UCONN – W, 4-3 (7)
* March 19, 2023 – Missouri – W, 4-3 (7)
* April 6, 2023 – Auburn – W, 3-2 (8)
* April 19, 2023 – USF – W, 7-3 (7)
* April 28, 2023 – Ole Miss – W, 6-5 (7)
* Charla Echols notched her 10th home run of the year with a two run blast off the light pole in right field in the 1st inning of play and tallied three RBI. She now has a team-leading 56 RBI on the year.
* Echols finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate for her 16th multi-hit game of the season and her three RBI marks her 13th multi-RBI game of the year.
* Reagan Walsh provided the walk-off heroics yet again as she crushed her seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the 7th inning.
* Walsh’s three-RBI night marks her 12th multi-RBI game of the year.
* Kendra Falby extended her hitting streak going 1-for-3 at the plate.
* Skylar Wallace went 1-for-3 with a walk, which extended her reached base safely streak to 13 games and she has now reached safely in 43 of the 44 games played this year.
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