All Gators

Florida Gators Softball 1-Win Away from World Series Final

The Florida Gators beat Oklahoma on Monday to set up a rematch on Tuesday with a date in the Women's College World Series Final on the line.

Cam Parker

Florida's Skylar Wallace (17) leads the Gators in celebration
Florida's Skylar Wallace (17) leads the Gators in celebration / Sarah Phipps / USA TODAY NETWORK
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One more win, and the Florida Gators will be playing for a national championship, but it’ll have to come in a rematch against the school that’s won the last three Women’s College World Series. 

With a 9-3 victory over Oklahoma (53-7) Monday afternoon, the Gators (54-14) set up a winner-take-all rematch to be played on Tuesday after a weather delay pushed it back a day. It was the Sooners’ most lopsided defeat this year. 

Skylar Wallace (2-for-3, three RBIs) smacked two home runs, Kendra Falby (2-for-3) added an inside-the-park homer and Reagan Walsh (3-for-3) plated four runs, which included a three-run blast, as the Gators snapped Oklahoma’s 20-game NCAA Tournament win streak.

“I mean, this offense is unreal,” Wallace said. “We take a lot of pride in our swings, all of our work. So we're never doubting who we are as hitters. We stick to our approaches. We make the pitchers work a lot.”

Falby in particular had struggled at the plate in the Gators’ postseason games. She went 5-for-41, which included 0-for her last-20, over the course of the postseason. It continued a trend of unlikely heroes leading Florida’s run in the WCWS. 

“I knew a hit was coming. I didn't think it was going to be that one,” Falby said. “I mean, it was like pure joy. Today I just made sure that, like, once you start getting in that hole, you start thinking things, you get in your own head. I made sure I stuck with my plan.” 

Pitcher Keagan Rothrock (33-8), who has started in all 13 postseason games for the Gators, earned her 33rd win of the year with a complete game in which she struck out four batters. Oklahoma averaged just over eight runs and nearly 10 hits a game coming into Monday’s matchup. 

The true-freshman phenom held the Sooners to three runs on seven hits. 

“Obviously Keagan Rothrock, just her ability to bear the load, but more importantly the way she competes,” said UF head coach Tim Walton. “There's an opportunity in those games that most average freshmen are going to get nervous. She found a way to get another gear and get better.”

It didn’t take long for the runs to come in for Florida. The Gators plated four of their nine runs over the first three innings. 

Walsh scored Korbe Ortis off a single in the first inning, and Wallace and Falby (inside-the-park)  added back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning. A double from Ava Brown plated Jocelyn Erickson to put Florida up 4-0 going into the fourth inning.

Oklahoma chipped away at Florida’s lead with an RBI single from Kinzie Hansen, but Florida quickly ended any momentum the Sooners had with a three-run home run from Walsh, her 18th of the year.

The Sooners added two more runs behind the bat of Tiare Jennings before Wallace extended the game with a two-run home run in the fifth inning. 

Oklahoma loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Katie Kistler caught a fly ball near the right field wall to end the game. 

Winner of tomorrow's game will advance to the 2024 WCWS championship series against No. 1 seed Texas, which beat Florida 10-0 in five innings on Saturday. Texas eliminated Stanford 1-0 on Monday, sweeping their half of the bracket.

The women are looking to duplicate the efforts of the men who were able to battle out of the losers' bracket by beating Oklahoma State twice in a row to punch their ticket to the Super Regional.

For Florida, Walton explained that he hasn’t decided whether to send Rothrock, who had 130 pitches on Monday, or Brown to the mound to start. He added that it may be a situation where both play. 

“Yeah, if I told Keagan she's not pitching tomorrow, she's probably going to fight me. So I'll deal with that by myself at the hotel,” Walton joked. “Yeah, I mean, I say that jokingly. At the end of the day, Ava, she's a good pitcher. She's a different starter than she is coming in with runners on base. What happened the other day on Saturday, I'm very confident in Ava Brown, if Ava is the one tomorrow.

“I think it would be an Ava, Keagan, Ava type of day like at Mississippi State, or a Keagan, Ava, Keagan day. That's what we were planning on with Texas the other day. Just didn't work out that way.”

Oklahoma, meanwhile, elected to start senior Nicole May over lefty stars Kelly Maxwell and Kiersten Deal. Deal pitched 3.2 innings of relief with five earned runs on four hits and four walks given up. 

“Kelly cannot take us all the way. She can't. I have to get these guys on the field. I've got to get them on the mound, I've got to get them the experience or we aren't going anywhere,” said OU head coach Patty Gasso. “I thought Nicole threw some really good pitches, as did KD. They were just getting hit, hard, timely hits.”

Maxwell (21-2) is expected to start on the mound for Oklahoma against either Florida’s Rothrock or Brown. First pitch is anticipated for 2 p.m. ET with television coverage from Oklahoma City on ESPN.

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Cam Parker
CAM PARKER

Cam Parker is a contributing writer at AllGators.com of FanNation-Sports Illustrated and is a recent graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. He also covers and broadcasts Alachua County high school sports with The Prep Zone and Mainstreet Daily News. When he isn't writing, he enjoys listening to '70s music such as The Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd, binge-watching shows and playing with his cat, Chester.

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