Ali Gardiner stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tied game with a 1-2 count and everything on the line.
The junior dug in, stared down South Carolina ace Melissa Hendon and became the hero of the night with one swing of her bat.
Gardiner hit a walk-off home run to deep center field to win Game 2 of the Gators' (37-2, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) Wednesday doubleheader sweep against the Gamecocks (13-15, 2-7 SEC), 1-0.
"I had the mentality that I was going to get a hit no matter what," Gardiner said. "It comes down to who wants it more, and I think that we wanted it more than they did."
The Gators started off slowly, going without a hit in the first three innings.
Gardiner was finally able to break through for UF hitting a line-drive single to center field in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Gators were unable to get on the board.
"She was a great pitcher," Gardiner said of Hendon. "She was doing a really good job of hiding the ball. She had a lot of our girls guessing."
Stephanie Brombacher pitched well for the Gators, striking out five in six scoreless innings of work.
"Getting momentum heading into the biggest weekend of our season against LSU was great," UF coach Tim Walton said. "It was a good way to win a ballgame."
While the first game lacked the dramatics of the nightcap, it was considerably less stressful for UF.
Senior Mary Ratliff got things rolling for the Gators, hitting a RBI double into deep left field in the bottom of the second inning.
That was the start of what would become a three-run inning for the Gators and the beginning of the end for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina committed three errors in the inning and made its lone pitching change of the game.
Ratliff went 2 for 3 with two doubles and drove in a run.
South Carolina pitcher Kate Pouliot struggled mightily in the lone inning that she pitched for the Gamecocks, throwing several wild pitches before freshman Krystle Robinson replaced her.
UF took Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader against South Carolina by a score of 6-0.
It was a dominating performance for the Gators.
UF pitcher Stacey Nelson (22-2) was brilliant, throwing seven scoreless innings and racking up 11 strikeouts on her way to a complete game and the win.
"I haven't been having my ideal season so far this year and I felt (like I was) back to normal today," Nelson said.
