GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore outfielder Taylor Shumaker homered, doubled and scored three times to pace the Florida offense and junior Keagan Rothrockwon pitched a one-hitter for her third win in the circle in as many days, as the sixth-seeded Gators defeated Georgia Tech 5-2 Sunday at Pressly Stadium to complete a three-game sweep of the Gainesville Regional.
With the victory, UF will be home next weekend for the NCAA Super Regional round, with a berth to the Women's College World Series on the line.
Shumaker led off Florida's first with a double down the left-field line and scored on Townsen Thomas'infield groundout three batters later to get the Gators on the board. Shumaker came up in the UF second with two outs and a runner on and parked her 20th homer of the season over the left-field wall for a 3-0 lead.
The Gators added a run each in the third and fourth innings to go ahead 5-0.
Rothrock, meanwhile, flirted with the program's first NCAA no-hittter in five years, but the Yellow Jackets plated a pair of runs in their sixth on a two-out double by Addison Leschber. Rockrock (29-6) worked all seven innings, allowed the lone hit, struck out three and walked five. For the weekend, she pitched 15 of the 17 innings the Gators played, gave up five hits, the two runs Sunday, fanned 13 and walked six.
The win was UF's fourth over Tech this season; two in the regional and two back in February in the Gators-hosted Florida Classic.
Pitcher Keagan Rothrock (left) and catcher Ella Wesolowski during Sunday's NCAA Regional title round Sunday.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Shumaker's homer was the 40th of her career -- still in her sophomore season -- and moved the UF star into 10th place on the program's all-time list. With a 3-0 lead, and Tech having combined for just six runs in its three previous tournament games, it just felt like a lot for the Yellow Jackets to overcome.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: In their 12 home NCAA regionals dating to 2013, the Gators are 36-1 -- with 22 consecutive wins -- and have outscored their opponents by a combined 268-17, with 18 mercy-rule victories.
UP NEXT: Florida (50-10) will host the Gainesville Super Regional next weekend, with times and dates (and opponent) to be determined. The Gators will take on either 11th-seeded Texas Tech (54-6) or Ole Miss (36-25), who face off later Sunday in the championship round of the Lubbock Regional, with the host Red Raiders needing to win one of two potential games. It'll mark the Gators' 15th home Super appearance in program history and third straight.
NOTABLES
The Gators have now won 22 consecutive NCAA Regional games at home
Florida's NCAA Regional run-rule win streak going back to the 2024 season ended on Sunday. The seven straight run-rules is an NCAA Tournament record
The Gators came into this weekend tied for the longest streak with 2022-24 Oklahoma and 1999-2000 Arizona
Florida recorded two shutouts in three of its NCAA Regional games. Since Coach Tim Walton took over in 2006, the Gators have tallied 61 shutouts in the NCAA Tournament, the most of any team in the NCAA in that span
The Gators recorded two doubles against the Yellow Jackets, one from Shumaker and one from Comia, against Georgia Tech, bringing Florida's season total to 114 and setting a new program single-season doubles record
The single-season record was previously set by the 2024 team who had 112 doubles
Shumaker now has 18 doubles on the season, which is the fourth-most in a single-season in program history
The sophomore also has 87 runs scored this season, the second-most in a single-season by a Gator. The single-season run record is held by Skylar Wallace who had 90 in 2024
QUOTES
Coach Tim Walton * (Opening statement): "Congratulations to Georgia Tech on a great season. They earned their way here, and the other two teams as well, Texas State and Florida A&M, made for a fun regional. I tip my cap to our fans. I thought they did a really good job all three days — early Sunday, early Saturday and early Friday. I'm really proud of what we've built here. People want to come watch us. I'm exicted for what this team has accomplished thus far. It's really important for these two [players] right here. For Gabi, this was really her first go as a starter in a regional and she did a really great job this weekend and has for the whole season. And Taylor, leading off and setting the tone for us really well. She had a big hit the other way and home run. I'm also proud of the way Keagan pitched. She competed really well and allowed just the one hit. She did a really did a good job and carried us this weekend. I'm proud of that." * (Keagan Rothrock's performance): "Keagan has carried that load for us and gotten better. There have been moments she would fold under pressure. She didn't fold. She walked five people and then made some really good pitches, so it says a lot about Keagan and her ability to go out there and compete. Today was really hot. One of the hotter days we've had this year, but especially for her. She threw 99 pitches. She did a great job."
Taylor Shumaker * (On her lead-off, first-inning double to set the tone after going 0-for-3 Saturday): "Definitely going into the postseason I feel like short-term memory is something we're going to have to deal with. Obviously, you can have a great day one day and not a great day the next day. It's a matter of having good at-bats and finding a way to get on base so my team can score. We have a really good lineup that works really well together." * (On hittting her 40th career homer as a Gator): "It feels great. We have so many Gator Greats who have done so much for this program. I feel like, ultimately, I just have to chalk it up to my teammates, chalk it up to my coaches being able to learn me as a hitter and figure out ways to have me at my best, but also having hitters around me that allow me to get the pitches I want to hit."
Gabi Comia * (On Rothrock's performance): "She's great to play behind. She has an aura to her and just carries herself so well. She's really great at talking to us and making eye contact. We've established our relationship when she's there and we're there behind her. We've got her back." * (On turning over the lineup from the No. 9 spot): "It's honestly really freeing down there, especially when I have to go up the next inning and lead off the next inning, Taylor's right behind me and she just gives me all the confidence in the world. She just says her little thing to me every time, and just eye contact is a really big thing, and she's really good about making eye contact with me, and I know that at the bottom of the lineup, as long as I can turn it over to her, we're going to win a lot of games. I just have to do my job and Taylor's really good about just having my back and these girls are about having each other's back."
UAA communications director Lauren Staff contributed to this report.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
