NCAA TOURNAMENT
GAINESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL / GAME 2
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tim Walton vowed his team would play better (a lot better) Saturday. His players proved him prophetic.
Senior catcher Jocelyn Erickson had three hits, including a tone-setting first-inning homer, to pace No. 6-seed Florida's offensive onslaught that produced a 10-2 victory over 11-seed Texas Tech and evened the best-of-three NCAA Gainesville Super Region at one game a piece Saturday at Pressly Stadium.
Five different UF batters had multiple-hit afternoons, while UF junior workhorse Keagan Rothrock was sensational in going the distance in the circle, allowing just five hits, striking out five and walking two in winning her 30th game of the season against one of the best hitting teams in the nation.
The overall performance was an impressive answer to Friday's 10-8 loss in the series opener and set up a winner-take-all Game 3 Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City next week.
Erickson's homer, her 21st of the season (and just her second in 19 games), came on the first pitch to the second batter of the game from four-time All-America pitcher NiJaree Canady and put the sixth-seeded Gators ahead 2-0 mere minutes in. UF never trailed thereafter, pounding out 14 hits and a pair of home runs. First baseman Madison Walkerhad two hits, a homer (her second of the series) and three RBI. Shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan atoned for her two-error game on Friday with three hits, two of which plated runs.
In the UF second, Erickson added to lead with a single that knocked in her third run of the game and pushed her team in front 3-0. Tech cancelled that run out in its second, but the Gators increased the lead in the third on a two-out single by Cahalan and Walker's towering two-run homer off the pitching lab roof in left field to make it 5-1.
The Florida lead was 5-2 after four innings when the Gators broke things open with a four-run fifth. Again, Erickson got things started with a leadoff single, followed two batters later by a bunt single from Townsen Thomas. After both runners moved into scoring position on a ground out, Cahalan knocked them in with a single for a 7-2 lead. A bloop single by Walker scored Cahalan from second and Ella Weslowski's double to left brought pinch-runner Cassidy McLellan around from first to make it a 9-2 game.
The Gators added an oh-by-the-way run in their seventh after singles by Cahalan and Gabi Comia to account for the final 10-2 tally.
Rothrock (30-6) closed things from there, ultimately allowing just one extra-base hit in a 108-pitch outing in 90-degree heat.
Senior catcher Jocelyn Erickson rips her first-inning homer that gave the Gators a lead they never lost.
PLAY OF THE GAME: The Red Raiders got a leadoff single from Mihyi Davis, a double by Laura Allred and RBI fielder's choice from Lagi Quiroga and pull within 5-2 with no outs in the home fourth. Tech eventually loaded the bases with just one out, but Rothrock struck out Jackie Lis, then got Jasmy Burns on a long (and momentarily scary) fly out that Wesolowski, making just her second start of the season in right field, gloved from the warning track with her heels up against the wall to escape the inning.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: UF has had its share of struggles at times this season as far as situational hitting, but the Gators have been awfully clutch through two Super games, with 14 of their 18 runs scored in the series coming with two outs. And give Florida credit also for making easy work of Canady, the 2025 NCAA Pitcher of the Year and $1 million NIL acquisition. The Gators knocked her around for eight hits and six runs in 5.2 innings in back-to-back games. Her weekend ERA is 9.88.
UP NEXT: Florida (52-11) and Texas Tech (56-7) will play Sunday for one of the eight spots in OKC, with first pitch to be determined later Saturday. The Gators will be looking for a 14th trip to the WCWS, including a third straight, while the Raiders seek just their second in as many years. Texas Tech lost to Texas in the 2025 national-championship series.
Erickson's 21 home runs are the second-most by a Gator in a single-season
Shumaker (2025) and Brittany Schutte (2011) each hit a program-record 22 home runs
With two runs on the day, Shumaker matched the single-season program record for runs scored (90) with Skylar Wallace (2024)
With her 19th double of the season, Shumaker also moved into a tie for second-most doubles in a single-season in program history
Shumaker also set a new program single-season total bases record (165)
Madison Walker has hit home runs in back-to-back games for the second time this season. She also had back-to-back home runs against LMU (Feb. 27) & Oregon State (Feb. 28)
Keagan Rothrock (30-6) eclipsed 30 victories for the second time in her career. She went 33-9 as a freshman in 2024
Ella Wesolowski made her second of the season in right field
Florida now has 609 hits on the season new program single-season record
QUOTES
Coach Tim Walton * (Opening statement): "I told you guys the message I shared with our team in the locker room [Friday] postgame. Just the simple message of, 'Do you want tomorrow to be your last day?' I didn't, and they showed today they didn't. Just being able to play well, play for each other. We weren't perfectly clean, but we were good enough to get a W. The main message was when we make mistakes you can't dwell on them, you have to get over it really quickly, lean on your teammates and really pour into that. I thought we did a good job with that. And Keagan pitched her butt off today, obviously." * (On the offense): "I'm extremely proud of the way they answered the challenge. I had two thoughts. You can tell them, 'Hey, it's OK. It's going to be fine,' then you get run-ruled today. Or you go in and challenge them to the core. I challenged them to the core. Not individaully, but the team core. 'What did you come here for? Why do you work so hard?' That was it. They said it best. They really echoed what kind of team we have. They're a bunch of high-character players who care about the brand, about the University of Florida, about our pgoram. It was awesome." * (On Erickson's homer): "The sound of Jocelyn Erickson hitting that homer. When she gets it right, it has a sound."
Jocelyn Erickson * (On her home run): "It meant a lot. I was doing it for [teammates]. They always have my back, so I needed to show up today. They gave me some encouragement and I was glad I was able to do it for them." * (On Rothrock's performance): "I've been her teammate for three years now. I know she gives it all she has every time she steps on the field." * (On going into the game knowing it could be the last of her career): "That definitely wasn't crossing my mind. I was just going out there and playing free and wanted my teammates to do the same."
Ella Wesolowski
* (On her big catch in the fourth inning): "Just anything the team needs I'm going to do. It was really awesome to make that play for them."
Madison Walker * (On hitting two homers in as many days at Supers): "Just really trusting in my preparation and trusting in my coaches and my teammaes. It's really easy to have good at-bats when you're teammates are having good at-bats, too. Hiiting is contagious. It's a really fun thing to do. This is what we work hard for seven days a week."
UAA communications director Lauren Staff contributed to this report.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
