The Oklahoma Sooners entered the day one win away from the [autotag]Women’s College World Series[/autotag] Championship. The Florida Gators made sure it stayed the way with a 9-3 win over the Sooners to set up an elimination game on Tuesday.
The Florida Gators opened the scoring on a bloop single from Reagan Walsh. Florida added to their lead in the bottom of the third with an inside the park home run from Kendra Falby after Rylie Boone’s diving attempt came up short. All-American Skylar Wallace then went back-to-back with a home run she crushed to right field to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Sooners struggled to take advantage when they got the leadoff hitter on base. Their best chance came in the top of the second when Kasidi Pickering earned a four-pitch walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Kinzie Hansen grounded back to the pitcher, but Pickering was able to advance to third on the play. Then Rylie Boone hit a liner to deep center that looked like it might clear Falby, but she made a tremendous play on the ball. Pickering failed to tag up on the play, believing the ball to end up a base hit and was forced to stay at third. Oklahoma couldn’t cash in as Florida pitcher Keagan Rothrock struck out Cydney Sanders to end the threat.
Down 4-1, the Sooners finally got on the board with an RBI single from Kinzie Hansen. But the Gators responded with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to keep the Sooners at a distance.
Tiare Jennings hit her 97th career home run and 10th in the Women’s College World Series. It was the lone highlight for a Sooners team that simply didn’t have it today.
Nicole May got the start after looking really sharp this postseason, but she and Kierston Deal were roughed up by a good Florida Gators offense.
The two combined to allow nine runs on 10 hits and they walked five batters. It’s the first time a former assistant of Patty Gasso has beaten the Sooners.
The loss ends the Sooners’ 11-game winning streak, and they will now need to beat Florida on Tuesday to advance to the Women’s College World Series Championship. Presumably Kelly Maxwell will get the start for the Sooners in the elimination game.
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