NCAA TOURNAMENT / GAINESVILLE REGIONAL FLORIDA 6, FLORIDA GULF COAST 0 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.
Junior Kendra Falby is fired up after scoring on Skylar Wallace's two-run double in the third.
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-12 in four postseason games. That's an average .750 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 1.
12 of the 17 Game 1 wins have come via shutout and this year's marks the 11th time Florida pitchers have allowed two 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 Wallace belted hers.
UP NEXT: The Gators (47-12) moved into the tournament's winner's bracket, where they'll face either Florida Atlantic (41-14) or South Alabama (32-18-1), who met in the second game Friday.
