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The No. 4 national seed Florida Gators beat the No. 2 national seed Oklahoma Sooners 9-3 Monday in the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City to force another matchup with the Sooners.
The Gators (54-14) used four home runs to do the damage against the Sooners (56-7) and force a rematch at 2 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN, ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF) to determine who advances to the championship finals. Oklahoma also saw its 20-game win streak in the NCAA Tournament snapped.
GATORS KEEP ROLLING 🐊#GoGators | Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/Sa1xsx941b
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) June 3, 2024
Semifinal Box Score
Long Ball Drives Offense
The Gators jumped on Oklahoma starting pitcher Nicole May (14-3) early. She gave up four runs in two innings.
Reagan Walsh started the scoring with a RBI single to give the Gators a 1-0 lead.
Kendra Falby broke out of her slump in the bottom of the second with an inside-the-park home run (her 2nd) to make it 2-0. Skylar Wallace followed her with a solo home run (her 14th and first of the game) to make it 3-0.
INSIDE THE PARK HR!
Let’s go, @kendrafalby 👏
📺 ESPN | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/CGyQzbJ6RT
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) June 3, 2024
Kierston Deal came in relief and pitched 3.2 innings and gave up five runs.
Ava Brown hit a RBI double to make it 4-0 in the third. After the Sooners got a run back, Walsh hit a three-run home run (her 18th) to make it 7-1.
Wallace hit her second home run of the game (her 15th) in the fifth to make it 9-3 after a two-run home run from the Sooners.
AGAIN ✈️@Wallace2Skylar with another home run!
📺 ESPN | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/m1opJMDhOg
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) June 3, 2024
Another Complete Game
UF’s Keagan Rothrock (33-8) threw her 27th complete game of the season. She gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out four batters. She walked seven.
The runs for Oklahoma came off a Kinzie Hansen RBI single and a Tiare Jennings two-run home run.
SECURED THE WIN!
📺 ESPN | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/2vtBpGcAqG
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) June 3, 2024
Up Next
Tuesday’s winner will advance to the WCWS Finals scheduled to start Wednesday. A win would put Florida in the finals for the first time since 2017 when they lost 2-0 to the Sooners. Oklahoma is seeking its fourth consecutive national title.
Top seed Texas (49-8) advanced to the finals with a 1-0 win against Stanford in the other semifinal Monday.
Florida forces a winner-take-all game! 🐊
(4) @GatorsSB takes down (2) Oklahoma, 9-3, and sets up the ‘if necessary’ game against the Sooners with a trip to the National Championship on the line.#WCWS pic.twitter.com/uRGE3CpgJ7
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 3, 2024
