NCAA TOURNAMENT 

GAINESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL / GAME 1 

GAINESVILLE, Fla.  – Senior slugger Reagan Walsh and sophomore Ava Brown combined to drive in five runs with a pair of homers and sophomore pitcher Keagan Rothrock threw her best game in nearly two months Friday, as third-seeded Florida defeated Southeastern Conference rival Georgia 6-1 in Friday’s opening game of their best-of-three NCAA Gainesville Super Regional at Pressly Stadium.

The victory put the Gators one win away from clinching a berth in next week’s Women’s College World Series at Oklahoma City. 

UF jumped on top early and left UGA chasing for the balance of the game. With one out in the first inning, freshman Taylor Shumaker walked and junior Jocelyn Erickson reached on an infield single to put runners at first and second. Walsh stepped to the plate, turned on a full-count pitch and drilled a three-run shot — her 14th blast of the season — onto the roof of the pitching lab in left field. UF had a quick 3-0 lead. 

The Gators had a couple scoring chances over the next three innings, but stranded five runners, but Brown’s two-run shot in the fifth, after Mia Williams opened the inning with a walk, made it 5-0. UF added another run in the frame when UGA pitcher Randi Roelling hit pinch-hitter Layla Lamar, who then raced home from first on Kendra Falby’s double off the right-field wall for a 6-0 lead. 

The Bulldogs threatened to make it a big inning in their sixth, but came away with only one run. A leadoff double from Emma Castorri, the first hit of Rothrock, was followed by a one-out single from Dallis Goodnight and put runners at the corners. Castorri scored on a throwing error by Erickson and two batters later the bases were loaded with just one out, as clean-up hitter Jaydyn Goodwyn stepped to the plate. Rothrock struck out Goodwyn, then got Sarah Gordon to fly to left, keeping the home team’s cushion at five runs. 

Rothrock (15-5) walked the first batter of the UGA seventh, but set the next three down in order to finish off her first seven-inning complete game since a 9-1 win Feb. 21 at Arizona State.  

PLAY OF THE GAME: The Walsh homer in the first was huge, but if the Bulldogs were going to get back in the game it could have happened in their fourth, still down 3-0, when Lyndi Rae Davis led off by reaching first on a throwing error. Davis was replaced by pinch-runner Mollie Mitchell. The next UGA hitter, Goodwin, flew out to right. The batter after that did the same, but drove Gators right-fielder Shumaker to the wall. Shumaker plucked the fly, then fired a throw to first to double-up Mitchell, who was all the way to second base when she saw the catch and could not retreat in time. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: UF coach Tim Walton said during his team’s three-game sweep through regional play last week that Rothrock — a 33-game winner during her 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year campaign gets better the more she pitches. She began the day with a 6.03 ERA over her last 10 games against conference opponents, but improved on that number in a big way Friday. She allowed just two hits, one run and walked two in going the distance and improving to 2-0 in NCAA play this season. 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Gators scored more runs in the first inning (3) Friday than they scored in their four previous Super Regional games against the Bulldogs combined (2). UGA swept UF in Super play by scores of 3-0 and 3-2 in 2016, then again 4-0 and 6-0 in 2021, with both of those series in Gainesville. 

UP NEXT: Florida (47-14) and Georgia (34-22) will meet in Game 2, set for Saturday at 11 a.m., with the Gators playing for their 13th trip to the WCWS. If the Bulldogs win, a deciding Game 3 will be played Sunday, with start time to be determined. 

QUOTES

Coach Tim Walton 

* (Opening statement): “Really good start. Obviously, Keagan had a great game for us today. One of the best she’s had for us in a long time. She really set the tone for us. and, obviously, Reagan doing the same thing on a full-count in the first inning, really giving us that breathing room. In a Super Regional, there’s nothing really better than that. I thought we did a really good job, up and down the lineup. Taylor Shumaker, [with] four walks, just really kept on passing the bat to the next person. Defensively, some nice plays. But, again, the tone was set by Keagan in doing a really outstanding job for us.” 

* (On the big lead): “We’ve had a lot of good weeks of practice that haven’t turned out in the first two innings of a game or series. The biggest key is being able to translate it again. When Keagan sets the tone – the only time [Georgia] scored is when they got a lead-off runner on base – that’s the key for us. It’s important to do a good job to make sure we keep lead-off hitters off base and we’ve got to get lead-off hitters on. We got one lead-off hitter on this entire game, then Ava hits a two-run homer. It’s important to keep that mindset.” 

Keagan Rothrock  

* (On working through jams): “Just continued to hit my spots. That’s a big thing for me in those times; to hit the spots I need to hit. But I also know my defense. They’re going to make the plays, too. As long I make a good pitch to get a good out, they’re going to make a play.” 

 

Reagan Walsh  

* (On being in the position to go to the WCWS again): “Just a lot of positive energy and going in there with the mindset that we’re going to beat you. Working as a team together. The best experience you can have is to go to the World Series, but it’s one game at a time.” 

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu