Florida Gators

OKLAHOMA CITY – Florida coach Tim Walton knew something had to be done to spark an offense held to just three measly base hits in two games at the Women's College World Series, including just one in the rule-rule loss the night before. 

Kendra Falby knew also. 
 
When the starting lineup was turned in prior to UF's elimination game Sunday night against Alabama, it had Skylar Wallace batting in Falby's customary leadoff hole and the players normally hitting second through sixth moved up a spot. 
 
 

Falby, the leadoff hitter in all 66 games heading into Sunday, was slotted to hit seventh. Want to hear the best part? 
 
"It was Kendra's idea, to be honest with you," Walton said of his selfless junior, All-Southeastern Conference centerfielder and Rawlings Gold Glove winner mired in a frustrating hitting slump over the last two weekends. "Give her credit. She said, 'We have to do something different, Coach.' I give her credit of being mindful of the team, understanding we got to get on base, especially at the top [of the order]."
 
Falby's struggles at the plate continued against the Crimson Tide, but the Gators woke up offensively for 10 hits, including a monster 3-run sixth-inning homer by catcher Jocelyn Erickson to score a 6-4 victory at packed Devon Park and earn a spot in the WCWS semifinals Monday against three-time reigning NCAA champion and second-seed Oklahoma.

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "And That's the Ballgame" recap here]
 
What the Gators (54-14) did against the Tide looked nothing like the previous five games – the three last weekend in the Gainesville Super Regional against Baylor and again this weekend in a 1-0 win over Oklahoma State and the 10-0 run-rule loss against top-ranked Texas Saturday – when UF totaled 12 runs on 19 hits. The top of the order had been especially and uncharacteristically quiet, hence the shakeup. Florida needed traffic on the bases to play its game. Erickson, the Oklahoma transfer who is second in the nation in RBI, wasn't going to break the 14-year-old single-season RBI record (she only needed one) without UF runners on base. Against the Tide, though, the Gators rapped out 10 hits. No. 2 hitter Korbe Otis got on base four times and scored three runs. Skylar Wallace got her first in two WCWS as a Gator, albeit on an infield single, but she got to second on an Otis walk and scored on Erickson's first of four RBI. 
 
"My teammates did a really good job of getting on base," Erickson said. "That's what we've been doing all season." 
 
They were more on base when Erickson stepped to the plate, her team clinging to a 3-2 lead with two outs in the sixth, and launched a 260-foot rocket over the centerfield wall for RBIs 82, 83 and 84. Freshman pitcher Keagan Rothrock, in registering her NCAA-best 32^nd win, finished things out from there.
 
Erickson's humility was on display at the post-game podium, as was her reluctance to make Monday's semifinal match against her former Sooner teammates, with whom whe won a ring last season, about her. 
 
"It'll be fun to see some old friends," she said. 
 
That was it.  Walton, though, was all too glad to praise his standout catcher and 2024 SEC Player of the Year. 
 
"It's just been fun to watch a kid like that, that not only has talent but has work ethic, has competitiveness, has good teammate tendencies, too," Walton said. "I'm not her teammate, I'm her coach, but I feel like she's a really professional softball player. She handles her business well. It's a breath of fresh air, to be honest with you."
 
And while on the subject of breaths of fresh air, back to Falby. She went hitless again from the No. 7 spot, but her team-first gesture hardly went unrewarded.

She's going to the WCWS semifinals with the teammates she loves.
 
Here's hoping the softball gods reward her.