FINAL: Florida 9, South Alabama 1 – Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Fifth-year senior Skylar Wallace continued her torrid offensive streak with an inside-the-park home run and four RBI, while senior Katie Kistler had a bases-clearing double and freshman pitcher Keagan Rothrock won for the sixth time in as many starts, as the fourth-seeded Gators run-ruled South Alabama 9-1 during Saturday’s weather-delayed NCAA Gainesville Regional. In winning a 10th straight, UF secured its place in Sunday’s championship round, thanks to a six-run fifth inning that ended two innings early a game that was delayed two hours, 45 minutes due to lightning in the area. The Gators had eight hits, with five of them (and five runs) coming in the top four spots of the order. Wallace went 2-for-2, with each of her knocks accounting for two RBI. Rothrock (28-6) went five innings, gave up three hits and the one run. The Jaguars actually led 1-0 in the first inning when Mackenzie Brasher opened the game with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Gabby Stagner’s hard liner to left. USA’s two hits in the first inning equaled the two Rothrock gave up in 6.1 innings of Friday’s opening-round 6-0 shutout of Florida Gulf Coast. Jaguars pitcher Olivia Lackie faced the first six UF batters without allowing a hit, but freshman Ava Brown broke the seal by leading off the home third with a solo home run over the right-field wall at Pressly Stadium to make it 1-1. Brown’s 13th of the season, tying her for the second-most on the team, was her first in 28 home games this season. The next batter, Ariel Kowalewski, grounded to first, after which officials halted the game due to the threatening weather. When play resumed nearly three hours later, it took an inning for the Gators to begin their onslaught, with Korbe Otis starting things with a leadoff double in the fourth, followed by Wallace’s inside-the-park homer — her 14th home run of the season and fourth in five postseason games — pushing the Gators ahead 3-1 after four. In the fifth, Mia Williams reached on a fielder’s choice, Kendra Falby stroked a double and Otis walked to load the bases and bring Wallace to the plate. The UF shortstop ripped a single to center, plating two more runs for a 5-1 lead. Three batters later, and with three runners on, Kistler lashed her double to the right-center gap, clearing the bases and pushing the Gators up 8-1. After Brown walked, Kowalewski ended the game with a RBI single to right that scored Kistler and gave UF its eight-run, run-rule margin.  

PLAY OF THE GAME: The moment Brasher, the USA centerfielder, failed in her attempt to making a diving catch on Wallace’s hard-hit drive to center, everyone in the ballpark knew Wallace, with her tremendous speed, was going to try and circle the bases. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: In what has become a daily updating of Wallace’s red-hot bat, she’s now 11-for-14 (that’s a .786 average) in UF’s five postseason games, with four homers and 13 RBI. Making those numbers all the more remarkable is that mind-boggling 10-game stretch in April when Wallace went 2-for-31. She’s making up for lost time. 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: UF has won 13 straight home regional games, dating to the 2017 season. Along the way, the Gators have outscored their opponents by a combined 105-5.

FLORIDA COACH TIM WALTON

* (On the game) “Overall, we just grinded it out. I was really happy with the way we transitioned from one pitcher to the other because they’re completely different and teams have struggled with their differences and we did a good job. I think the prep was really good and give our players really a ton of credit for being able to find a way to continue to grind that anything out.”

* (On Wallace’s bat of late): “We’ve had some hot streaks. This pretty impressive.” 

SKYLAR WALLACE

* (On dealing with the weather delay): “You got to have fun in the locker room. Stay loose. Stay active. Some people play hacky. Some get on TikTok. Some take a shower, do treatment, whatever it might be. You have to stay loose and have fun with it. It’s not fun [waiting], obviously, not the most ideal situation because once you get going you want to finish the game. But it happens and only the toughest players can deal with it come out on top.”

* (On if she was thinking inside-the-park homer): “Not off the bat. I actually thought she was going to catch it, but once I got to first base I turned the burrners on. I was like, ‘I know Coach Walton too well. I’m going ot score on this one!’ ‘ I read it pretty well and it worked out in my favor.”

UP NEXT: As the lone unbeaten left in the bracket, Florida (48-12) will get two chances to win one game Sunday. Who the Gators’ opponent will be — either USA (33-18-1) or the survivor of the elimination game later Saturday between Florida Atlantic (41-16) or Florida Gulf Coast (37-21) — won’t be known until the other three teams hash it out. The championship round is tentatively scheduled to begin at noon, but the Saturday weather delays likely will impact that starting time.