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Recap by Jake Hitt | ChompTalk

Florida Gators softball couldn’t pull off the sweep – losing to the Georgia Bulldogs 2-1 in the second game of the Gainesville Super Regional on Saturday. The Gator bats were shoved into an icebox on offense as the Bulldogs pulled out a pitchers’ duel. Now, Florida faced with its second winner-take-all Super Regional game in as many seasons.

“All in all good softball game,” Tim Walton said postgame. “It’s ultimately a toughness tester now. I think that’s really what it feels like. I told my team that last night, they (Georgia) have to beat us twice, and they played a great game (Saturday).”

The Bulldogs jumped out in front 2-0 within the first two innings thanks to a pair of solo home runs by Lyndi Rae Davis and Emily Digby off Florida starter Keagan Rothrock. Digby said they went back and did their homework prior to Saturday’s game – studying the pitches the Bulldogs saw in Friday’s Game 1. 

Walton said if the Gators posted a few runs in the first inning he might’ve kept the sophomore out there but the early 2-0 deficit made things different.

“So that was a decision I made pretty quickly,” he said. “I made my first-ever trip down to the bullpen. I walked all the way around and went down and told them, ‘Here’s the plan.’ And Keagan obviously gave up the leadoff home run. And so then that was it.  I wasn’t going to go any further with her.”

Following the second homer, the Gators made the switch to Olivia Miller who combined with Kara Hammock to post zeros over the remaining five innings. Miller faced eight batters in two innings of scoreless ball while Hammock faced 11 in three frames and generated seven groundouts.

“For them to come in and shut it down and us to make really good defensive plays, I thought that was really good momentum for us,” Korbe Otis said.

Walton was complimentary of how both pitched and the defense played behind them. That included a stellar team-up to catch a runner at the plate.

Meanwhile, Florida got some things cooking on the offensive side but its hot bats flamed out on Saturday.

The Gators left 13 runners on with multiple runners stranded in five different frames. That includes eight in scoring position. They started the game striking out twice with the bases loaded then left runners on the corners in the third and recorded three straight outs after Otis and Kenleigh Cahalan started the fourth with back-to-back hits.

Their only run batted in came when Otis lifted a ball into center field that looked off the bat like it had the legs for a go-ahead grand slam in the fifth. But it ended up in the glove of Georgia’s Dallis Goodnight and Florida plated just one as pinch runner Kylie Shaw came home.

“Softball’s a game of inches,” Otis said. “Didn’t go out (Saturday). Maybe it goes out (Sunday), but softball’s a game of inches. It just wasn’t there for us (Saturday).”

Cahalan grounded out to end the threat. Taylor Shumaker and Jocelyn Erickson flew out in the sixth to leave a one-out runner in Kendra Falby on second.

It looked like Florida was about to pull the comeback when a leadoff single and error put Reagan Walsh on second in the seventh then Mia Williams walked. Walton said he would’ve tried to sacrifice Ava Brown but let her swing away due to his team being the visitors. Brown struck out on a full count.

Georgia’s Tony Baldwin then made a switch in the circle, citing Otis’s prior at-bats against Bulldog starter Lilli Backes. The change worked as the Gator left fielder flew out. Both Williams and Brooke Barnard tagged up on it to get the tying and go-ahead runs in position.

However, the comeback wasn’t meant to be. Cahalan popped out in shallow right field for the final out. Walton said they had an opportunity to win but just didn’t execute.

“When we got to that point, we’re chasing balls out of the zone,” Walton said. “We’re not a chase team. More swing-and-misses (Saturday) probably than we’ve had. I don’t know if we had more swing-and-misses all year. That’s probably the most swing-and-misses we’ve had.”

Walton said those whiffs pointed to the magnitude of the event. In total, Florida posted a dismal 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Otis said they’re one swing away from winning that game in several situations.

Baldwin said Backes did a good job of controlling the strike zone and that’s what allowed her to keep Florida from getting that big hit. Backes said the pressure’s on the Gators to execute. Walton said at the end of the day the Gators just need to simplify it at the plate.

Walton’s no stranger to three-game Super Regionals. The loss marks the eighth time a team of his will face a winner-take-all scenario in the round with it happening in three of the last four seasons. Otis knows she gets to show up to the ballpark again on Sunday and said the team’s only worried about the next pitch.

“(Sunday’s) a new day coming out,” she said. “We’re one swing away from winning that game in a lot of senses. So I think we’re very prepared and very confident going in.”