AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 2-seed Florida softball team advanced to the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship with a 7-3 victory over No. 3-seed Texas A&M late Friday afternoon at Jane B. Moore Field. The win capped a 2-0 day for the Orange & Blue as they defeated No. 7-seed Georgia in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.
The Gators (45-12) advanced to their 10
th SEC Tournament Championship game behind nine total hits, five walks and a pair of home runs. Freshman right-handed pitcher
Keagan Rothrock (25-6) turned in her 20
th complete-game performance of the season en route to the victory and struck out six without allowing a walk.
Florida jumped out in front of Texas A&M (40-13) in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Katie Kistler and
Ariel Kowalewski started the rally with one-out singles to center and down the left line respectively.
Mia Williams stepped to the plate and worked a 3-1 count off TAMU starting pitcher Emily Leavitt (9-2) before she sent the next pitch off the top of the scoreboard in left center for her fourth home run of the year.
Otis notched her second hit of the day with a two-out single to center field to put a runner on for
Skylar Wallace. Wallace continued to stay hot at the plate in game two of the day and during her second at-bat of the game she belted her 12
th home run of the season to extend the lead out to 5-0. The hit forced the Aggies to make a pitching change and bring in Shaylee Ackerman, who was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.
The Aggies cut into the Gators lead in the top of the fourth inning and brought the score to 5-2. Rothrock had not allowed a baserunner until the top of the top of the frame when Kennedy Powell dropped a bunt single down the first base line. Trinity Cannon singled to right field for TAMU's second hit of the game and an error allowed the runners to reach the corners. Another bunt followed by an error in the ensuing at-bat allowed a pair of unearned runs to score.
Texas A&M closed down the lead even further to 5-3 in the top of the fifth via a two-out RBI single up the middle, but Florida recorded the final out of the frame and retired the batter trying to take third on the throw home.
Jocelyn Erickson provided some insurance for the Gators in the bottom of the sixth inning as she stretched the lead out to 7-3 with a two-RBI double to the gap in left center field. Otis and Wallace both drew two-out walks prior to the clutch extra-base hit by Erickson.
The Gators will take on No.5-seed Missouri in the SEC Tournament Championship tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Notables:
- Skylar Wallace extended her hit-streak out to seven games when she recorded a single to center field in the first inning.
- Her longest hit-streak of the season currently stands at eight games.
- She also reached base safely for the 10th consecutive game.
- In addition, Wallace also tallied her 22nd multi-hit game of the year when she belted her 12th home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning.
- Korbe Otis reached on an infield single in the bottom of the first to push her reached base safely streak to a new season-high 17 games.
- Otis finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate for her 18th multi-hit game of the year.
- Mia Williams launched her fourth home run of the season that gave UF a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
- It was the first home run for Williams since March 23, against Kentucky.
- Ariel Kowalewski extended her reached base safely streak out to a season-long 11 games when she singled down the left field line in the second inning.
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