Florida was four outs away from its first Women’s College World Series Finals appearance since 2017, but the three-time national champion Oklahoma Sooners completed a 6-5 comeback in extra innings to end the Gators’ season in heartbreaking fashion.
Jayda Coleman delivered the knockout blowout, homering to left. Florida left fielder [autotag]Korbe Otis[/autotag] got to the wall in time and leaped, but the ball was just beyond her reach.
Coleman’s blast was one of six on the day, three of which came from the Orange and Blue. [autotag]Jocelyn Erickson[/autotag] opened up the scoring with a two-run home run in the first, followed by Ariel Kowalewski’s two-run shot in the second.
[autotag]Reagan Walsh[/autotag] drove in the final run of the season for Florida with a solo shot to left in the third. Spirits were high. The Gators had a solid lead with their ace on the mound, but the Sooners kept chipping away at the three-run deficit.
Cydney Sanders homered in the fourth to cut the lead back down to one, and a two-out double in the sixth from Ella Parker ultimately forced extras.
It’s hard to fault Florida’s pitcher, Keagan Rothrock, even though she gave up a walk-off home run to end the season. Rothrock threw 154 pitches in her final outing as a freshman, striking out three and walking five.
The future is bright for Florida with most of the team set to return in 2025, but this is the end of the road for seniors Baylee Goddard, Avery Goelz, Katie Kistler, [autotag]Skylar Wallace[/autotag], Emily Wilkie and Mackenzie Wooten.
Wallace will go down as one of the best to ever wear the Orange and Blue after three straight All-American seasons. She holds several program records.
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