WHAT HAPPENED: Florida freshman Keagan Rothrock pitched a complete game, classmate Mia Williams hit an early two-run homer and the fourth-seeded Gators withstood feisty and unseeded Baylor for a 5-3 victory in Sunday’s rubber Game 3 of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional to clinch the 12th Women’s College World Series berth in program history.
Rothrock, who started all three games of the series, had to work out of a two-on, no-out jam in the seventh against the meat of the Bears’ order. After leadoff batter Emily Hott, already with a two-run homer two innings earlier, walked to put runners at first and second, Presleigh Pillon’s attempt to bunt the runners over was a pop-out to third for the first out. Rothrock then got Shaylon Govan, batting .449 coming to start the day, to fly out to right for the second out. Clean-up hitter Aliyah Binford’s pop to first ended the game and set off a Pressly Stadium celebration, with the Gators heading back to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2022.
Unlike the first two games of the series, the Gators struck first this time and it came after a clean first inning from Rothrock, who lasted just 12 pitches and left with her team down 3-0 in starting Game 2, an eventual 5-2 win for the Bears. In UF’s half of the first, and working against Game 2 winning pitcher RyLee Crandall (17-9), Korbe Otis reached on a fielder’s choice, Skylar Wallace singled both into scoring position and Southeastern Conference RBI leader Jocelyn Erickson brought Otis home on a sacrifice fly to right. The next batter, Reagan Walsh, ripped a line-drive single to left, scoring Wallace for a 2-0 lead.
The Gators made it 4-0 in their second when Ariel Kowalewski led off with a single and, with one out, Williams smashed an 0-2 pitch over the right-field wall to take the UF margin to 4-0. The Gators had a chance to blow the game open, but undermined that opportunity with an unforced error. After loading the bases, and with nobody out, Katie Kistler was called for leaving second base early on a bases-full walk to Ava Brown, nullifying a run that would have made it 5-0 (with the bases still loaded and nobody out). Brown eventually walked to reload the bases, but Williams lined hard back to Binford, who doubled Brown off first. The missed opportunities proved problematic, as the Bears got a run back on a single by Binford, who advanced to second on a UF error, then scored on Sydney Collazos’s RBI single to close to 4-1.
After Binford shut down the top of UF’s order in the fourth, Hott bombed her two-run shot in the fifth to close the Bears within 4-3. The Gators got one back in the fifth by loading the bases with nobody out. Kowalewski’s SAC fly to center drove made it 5-3, but Binford got out of what could have been a big inning for the home team. It was a pitcher’s and defensive duel the rest of the game, with UF just a little bit better.
PLAY OF THE GAME: OK, so this is cheating, but the three outs to end the game (with the Florida fans on their edge of their seats) combined to make the play(s) of the game. The blown bunt was especially huge.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Take a bow, Miss Rothrock, who had to withstand a pressure-packed last couple innings against an opponent that rattled her pretty good about 26 hours earlier.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Gators came into the Super Regional averaging 8.0 runs on 8.2 hits over the first 61 games of the season and were hitting .342 as a team. Against Baylor and a pitching staff that had a team ERA of 3.53 and ranked 153rd nationally, UF averaged only 3.7 runs on 17 hits and hit a collective .229. Credit to the Bears for their pitching and defensive game plans and execution, but credit the Gators for bearing down and fighting through a difficult offensive series after having their greatest strength — their bats — mostly neutralized and finding a way to win.
NOTABLES:
* The Gators advanced to their 12th Women’s College World Series in program history and first since the 2022 season. The program holds an overall record of 27-20 (.574) in Oklahoma City and will be looking for its third National Championship while there.
* Florida improved to 25-12 in NCAA Super Regional play and 6-1 in Super Regional game three games.
* Jocelyn Erickson tallied her 80th RBI of the season to tie Megan Bush’s Florida single-season record that was set in 2011.
* Skylar Wallace hit .625 (5-for-8) in the Super Regional and now sports a .667 average (10-for-15) across six games in the NCAA Tournament.
* Florida Head Coach Tim Walton won his 1,100 career game today and holds an overall record of 1,100-300 (.786) over 22 seasons as a head coach and a record of 976-236 (.805) in 19 seasons as the head coach of the Gators.
UP NEXT: Florida (51-13) will face fifth-seeded Oklahoma State (49-10) in their WCWS opener on Thursday, with the time to be determined. The Cowgirls defeated the Gators 3-0 in a regular-season meeting on Feb. 19 at Gainesville.
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