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UF SB: GAME 1 / WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES / FLORIDA 1, OKLAHOMA STATE 0
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| Herb Brooks <[email protected]> Unsubscribe | 1:04 AM (20 hours ago) | | |
| to STATEMEDIA-L | |||
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COMMUNICATIONS
THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2024
CONTACT: HERB BROOKS, 352-375-4683 x 6128
GAME 1 / WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
FLORIDA 1, OKLAHOMA STATE 0
WHAT HAPPENED: Florida senior outfielder Katie Kistler blasted a solo home run in the fifth inning that broke up a no-hitter and turned out to be enough as the fourth-seeded Gators shut out fifth-seeded Oklahoma State 1-0 in their Women’s College World Series opener Thursday night at Devon Park.
It was enough because UF freshman ace Keagan Rothrock threw a two-hit masterpiece in her WCWS debut, helping the Gators win their 13th in the last 14 games, but more importantly moving them into the winner’s bracket of the eight-team tournament field.
Rothrock (31-7), the fabulous freshman making her WCWS debut, held the Cowgirls scoreless for the first time in 20 games. OSU was hitting .312 as a team, good enough for 26th nationally, but managed just two hits and had only one runner reach second base.
The game was scoreless when Kistler opened the UF fifth by taking All American Lexi Kilfoyl to a full count, then tagging the 3-2 pitch over the right field fence, just a few feet inside the foul pole. The run was the Gators’ first in two games this season against Kilfoyl, who pitched a 3-0, three-hit shutout at Gainesville back on Feb. 19. This time, it was Rothrock and Florida’s turn.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In the OSU fifth, Lexi McDonald sent a high fly ball to deep center field that forced Kendra Falby to retreat and make a leaping catch up against the wall, thus robbing the Cowgirls of what would have been an extra-base hit and keeping the game scoreless. There’s a reason Falby won that Rawlings Gold Glove on Wednesday, honoring her as the nation’s best defensive player at her position. Oh, and about five minutes later, Kistler stepped to the plate in the UF half of the fifth. What a turn of events.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: This could just as well be a place to gush more about Rothrock (like the last few weeks), but Kistler’s fifth home run of the season was her first in 10 games. The two teams might still be playing without it.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The top five batters in the UF order — the All-Southeastern Conference quintet of Falby, Korbe Otis, Skylar Wallace, Jocelyn Erickson and Reagan Walsh — combined to go 1-for-11 in the game. Kistler came to the rescue.
NOTABLES:
* First Women’s College World Series for 11 of the 18 players on the roster this year.
* The Gators started four true freshmen on the infield in their WCWS opener.
* That makes it the youngest infield to start a 2024 WCWS game amongst the field of teams.
* Rothrock – P
* Brown – 1B
* Williams – 2B
* Kowalewski 3B
* Skylar Wallace extended her reached base safely streak to a season-long 18 games with a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth.
* Katie Kistler belted the first home run at the Women’s College World Series of her career to break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth inning. It’s her fifth home run of the season.
* The hit also broke up Lexi Kilfoyl’s no-hitter.
* Keagan Rothrock earned her 31st win and turned in her sixth complete-game shutout of the season.
* Her 31 wins are now tied for the most wins by an NCAA Division I pitcher this season with Jessica Mullins from Texas State.
UP NEXT: Florida (52-13) will have Friday off and be back in action in Saturday’s winner’s bracket against No. 1-seeded Texas (53-8), tentatively set for 9:30 p.m. The Longhorns defeated No. 8-seed Stanford 4-0 in Thursday night’s first game.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
FloridaGators.com<http://www.floridagators.com/softball/>
Florida Softball on Twitter<http://twitter.com/GatorsSB>
Head Coach Tim Walton on Twitter<https://twitter.com/_TimWalton>
Florida Softball on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/GatorsSB>
