Florida saves its season, crushes Texas Tech to push Gainesville Super Regional to Game 3
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Florida shook off a stunning, dramatic loss on its home field on Friday by leaving no doubt on Saturday.
After a 10-2 whitewashing of Texas Tech in Game 2 of the Gainesville Super Regional, a win that saved the Gators’ season, Florida will get another shot in a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday to survive and punch its ticket to the Women’s College World Series.
But an anxious Sunday is only a reality now because the Gators were very much on point on Saturday, scoring twice in the first inning and never trailing in the runaway victory over the Red Raiders. Florida pounded out 14 hits in the Game 2 rout, when it was the designated visiting team on its home field but made itself at home from the very beginning.
Jocelyn Erickson provided the opening salvo for the Gators (52-11), taking the first pitch she saw out of the park for a 2-run home run that immediately put the Gainesville crowd in celebratory mode. It was only the beginning in a drama-free game that began a little late because of inclement weather in the area.
The fact that Erickson’s blast came off Texas Tech star pitcher NiJaree Canady made it a little more emphatic, as the ball sailed over the wall in left-center field. Madison Walker smacked her second homer of the super regional in the top of the fourth, giving Florida a 5-1 cushion, and the Gators were off and running.
The start time and TV designation for Sunday’s deciding Game 3 has yet to be determined.
Texas Tech (56-7) showed a little life in the bottom of the fourth, scoring a run to cut Florida’s lead to 5-2. But the Gators limited the damage after the Red Raiders loaded the bases, and then UF continued its offensive onslaught in the fifth, tacking on 4 runs to unofficially put Game 2 to bed.
Kenleigh Cahalan ripped a 2-run single, Walker stayed hot with an RBI single, and Ella Wesolowski added an RBI double to give Florida a 9-2 lead.
The Gators put the finishing touches on the Game 2 rout with a run in the seventh, with Gabi Comia’s infield single driving in the final run of the afternoon.
While UF was relentless with the bats, it got great pitching from Keagan Rothrock, who went the distance, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. Rothrock got plenty of run support, and now the Gators will live to see Sunday, when their season will once again be on the line.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
