To lead off the bottom of the eighth inning, Oklahoma Sooners' Jayda Coleman got an outside fastball fromFlorida Gators' freshman standout Keagan Rothrock. It was her 154th pitch of the outing.
Coleman took the fastball and aired it into left field, just barely sneaking over the left field wall. It was a walk-off home run, putting Oklahoma into the Women’s College World Series Finals against the Texas Longhorns.
OKLAHOMA WALK-OFF HR TO ADVANCE TO THE #WCWS FINALS @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/2KmbEYt2yB
It sent the Gators back to Gainesville. Florida’s season came to an end at the hands of the Sooners, falling6-5in the national semifinal.
"I'm proud,” Gators head coach Tim Walton said. “None of my players made any excuses or blamed anybody. They went out there and had fun.”
UF had its chances throughout and was leading for the majority of the game. But timely hitting from Oklahoma, the three-time defending national champions, was enough to send them to their fifth consecutive WCWS Final.
It was a brutal and heartbreaking ending for a Gators team that overachieved all year. They had a whole new pitching staff, as well as a new pitching coach. They had 11 new players, in which seven were freshmen. They were picked to finish seventh in the SEC at the beginning of the season.
They quieted the doubters by winning the SEC and making it to the semifinal.
“This team has been a very, very special team,” Wallace said. “The way we put things aside, the way we get after it, the way we work. If you would have asked me in August, September, if we would have been here, I probably would have told you no.”
And just to play Tuesday, they defeated Oklahoma on Monday9-3which snapped the Sooners’ 20-game NCAA Tournament win streak. The Gators were gritty, relentless and fearless. After losing to Texas in their second game of the WCWS, their backs were against the wall.
But wins against Alabama and Oklahoma kept UF’s season alive, and they took the three-time defending champs to extra innings.
Nevertheless, the loss will sting because the Gators were in control in the early innings. Rothrock had done a phenomenal job over the past two days limiting one of the best offenses in the country.
“I couldn't have asked anything more,” Kendra Falby said. “I mean, she stunned Oklahoma for two days. You haven't seen that at all. She's only going to get better. I can't thank her enough for everything she's done.”
Yet Oklahoma was too powerful. Their roster, loaded with talent from top-to-bottom, struck when they needed. Down 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth, a two-run home run from Cydney Sanders cut the Florida lead to 5-4.
Then in the sixth, Ella Parker tied the game with a two-out single before Coleman ended it in extras with her home run.
"I wouldn't have it any other way for these guys,” Walton said. “They've showed that they can take a punch and punch back."
The emotions showed, as most of the team was in tears following the ending.
It’ll be a long flight home from Oklahoma City to Gainesville, but the UF program has a lot to look forward to. They’ll lose Skylar Wallace, one of the best players to ever play at UF, as well as Katie Kistler, Avery Goelz, Emily Wilkie and Baylee Goddard.
But the flamethrowing Rothrock, along with Ava Brown should return next season for their sophom*ore seasons.
Jocelyn Erickson, the 2024 SEC Player of the Year, is only a sophom*ore and should be back to lead the Gators offense. Along with head coach Tim Walton’s ability to recruit from high school and the transfer portal, Florida could be right back where they are now at this time next season.
But for now, the Gators will make their way back to Gainesville, but a proud community and fanbase will await before the offseason officially gets underway.
“It's been one helluva ride,” Wallace said. "It's special. It's tears of sadness because it sucks I don't get to put this uniform on again. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to play with this team one more year. This team has just allowed me to be better as a woman and as an athlete. I'm forever in debt to this team specifically and the University of Florida.”
BENNETT SOLOMON
This article first appeared on FanNation All Gators and was syndicated with permission.
