A windy late-February day blew the No. 14 Gators’ way as they picked up their 15th win this season. Picture-perfect weather proved to be an ideal environment to put out the Flames.
Coming off her first career no-hitter, Keagan Rothrock started in the circle against UIC. Her first two innings were perfect until a walk clouded the third.
She swiftly recovered to fend off the Flames until fellow freshman pitcher Ava Brown came in as relief in the top of the fifth.
“I personally feel like coming out of the bullpen and closing is not really my strong suit suit,” Brown said.
However, her self doubt wasn’t evident as she retired all five of the batters she faced.
The duo shut out the Flames and held them to one hit through six innings.
“One of the things that makes us great is that we feed off of each other,” Brown said.
Of course, a solid offense helped out its young pitchers today and put eight runs on the board.
The Gators scored five of their eight runs in the bottom of the first.
Korbe Otis started Florida off with an RBI single before three other Gators drove in four more runs.
Flames’ pitching heated up as it held Florida to no runs through the next four innings. The Gators left a total of six runners on base through those four frames.
The quiet innings were out of character this weekend as the Gators scored in 12 of the 18 innings they played through the prior four games.
“At the end of the day, driving runs in with two outs and driving runs in with two strikes is the difference between packing your gear up at the end of May and going on to Oklahoma City,” head coach Tim Walton said.
Brown got in on the offensive action when she hit a sacrifice fly to score Kendra Falby. When Jocelyn Erickson scored on Ariel Kowalewski‘s single, the Gators went up 7-0. On that live play, Brooke Barnard stole home as the Flames stood around watching in confusion.
The mercy run-rule ended the game, and the Gators won 8-0 in six innings.
The Gators (15-2) will travel to the West Coast this week for the Judi Garman Classic before SEC play starts in early March against the Alabama Crimson Tide (16-0).
“It’s gonna get tougher,” Walton said. “It’s gonna get harder, not only physically, but mentally.”
The first matchup of the West Coast Tournament for the Gators is with Cal State – Fullerton at 8 p.m. in Fullerton, California.
ChompTalk.com 
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