WHAT HAPPENED: Florida fifth-year senior shortstop Skylar Wallace knocked in a pair of runs and scored another, freshman Keagan Rothrock threw six-plus innings of shutout ball and the fourth-seeded Gators opened the NCAA Tournament Gainesville Regional with a 6-0 victory Friday afternoon at Pressly Stadium. UF used a four-run sixth inning to blow a close game open, with Rothrock (27-6), after setting down the first Eagle she faced in the seventh, giving way to classmate Ava Brown to close things out. Florida opened the scoring in the bottom of the third when Wallace, with two runners on, continued her red-hot postseason by bouncing a hard grounder through the infield and into the gap in right center, with Mia Williams easily scoring from second and speedy Kendra Falby racing around from first base to push the Gators in front 2-0. That’s how things stood into the sixth when Wallace’s one-out single kicked off the put-away inning. After Jocelyn Erickson walked, FGCU swapped pitchers, Ally Hulme for starter Alley Sparkman (12-5). The Gators executed a double-steal on Hulme’s first pitch and Walsh scored on a sacrifice fly by Reagan Walsh to go up 3-0. After Katie Kistler was intentionally walked, pitch-hitter Avery Goelz made the Eagles pay with a RBI single that scored Erickson to make it 4-0. Ariel Kowalewski’s two-run single to right accounted for the rest of UF’s runs. The win was Florida’s ninth in a row (coming off the heels of last week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament championship), as well as the fifth straight for Rothrock, who worked 6.1 innings, allowed just two hits, struck out three and walked none.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In the Florida third, Williams was called out on a force play at second base when Falby bounced a grounder off the glove of Sparkman that was fielded by shortstop Sophie Wylie, who shoveled a throw to second. Williams, sliding head-first on the play, clearly beat the throw, but was called out. UF coach Tim Walton wasted no time challenging the play and the umpire wasted no time overturning the initial call. Wallace then stepped in rapped the Gators to their early lead with her two-run double.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Pretty nice rookie debut in the circle from the front half of the Gators’ star-studded freshmen pitching rotation.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: Counting last week’s run to the SEC Tournament title (and her selection as the event’s Most Outstanding Player), Wallace is now 9-for-11 in four postseason games. That’s an average .818 average (no, that’s not a misprint), with 11 RBI. Her current nine-game hitting streak is a season high.
NOTABLES:
* The Gators are hosting their 18th Gainesville Regional in the past 20 years. They have now opened 17 of their past 18 regionals with a victory in game one.
* 12 of the 17 game one wins have come via shutout and this year’s game one marks the 11th time Florida pitchers have allowed 2 hits or less in the victory.
* In the last 10 Gainesville Regionals, the Gators are now 10-0 kicking off the NCAA Tournament and have allowed a total of two runs and 12 hits in those 10 games with three no-hitters, four one-hitters and now two two-hitters.
* The Gators set a new program record for doubles (103) in a season when Skylar Wallace belted a two-RBI double up the middle that gave UF a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
QUOTEABLES:
Head Coach Tim Walton:
On the win…
“I think first of all if that Florida Gulf Coast did a good job there, as advertised, they are going to compete all the way through. [FGCU’s Allison Sparkman] did a really good job changing locations and eye levels. We did a good job of holding them and keeping from giving them a chance to stay in that game but obviously Keegan pitched really well in her first NCAA postseason start.”
UP NEXT: The Gators (47-12) moved into the tournament’s winner’s bracket, where they’ll face South Alabama (32-18-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
