For the first time all season, the road forked in front of the Gators.
A path leading each player home for the summer stood opposite a road leading to the goal they've worked so hard for all season - the Women's College World Series.
Unexpectedly, it took two games against Central Florida Sunday to determine which route the team would follow.
Luckily for the Gators, they chose the latter and will now play California in Super Regional Action starting on Friday.
"It was a pretty good two games between two great teams, two great pitchers and two great fan bases," UF coach Tim Walton said.
In the first game of the eventual doubleheader Sunday, UCF (49-20) stunned No.1 UF (65-3) by defeating the heavy favorites in eight innings 1-0.
For seven innings, a Southeastern Conference All-Conference selection and a Conference USA All-Conference selection dueled their way to a 0-0 tie.
In extra innings, Knights senior pitcher Allison Kime put up yet another scoreless frame giving her team a chance to win the game in the bottom of the eighth.
Tiffany Lane and Marquita Council lead off the inning with back-to-back infield singles.
UCF's best hitter, Breanne Javier, played small ball and advanced both the runners on a sacrifice bunt.
Walton brought all nine players into a huddle on the mound, before junior Stacey Nelson got Hillary Barrow to pop up to catcher Kristina Hilberth for the second out of the inning.
Appropriately, the next batter to come to the plate was Kime, who the Knights do not designate a hitter for as most teams do for their pitcher.
With a 2-2 count, Kime chopped a pitch just over Nelson's outstretched glove.
"The minute it bounced over my head, I knew it was going to be a tough play for both middle infielders to make," Nelson said.
Second baseman Aja Paculba tried to back hand the ball but it kicked off her glove and Lane scored the winning run from third base.
"We weren't too down," junior Kim Waleszonia said. "We knew we had to come back and make some better adjustments at the plate."
The two teams switched dugouts and after a half an hour break, it was Nelson against Kime for the third time in two days.
UF's offense jumped on Kime in the first inning, taking advantage of two bunt singles by Waleszonia and Paculba, which set the table for a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, the 5-foot-4-inch leadoff hitter, who had one home run all season, blasted a pitch over the right field wall, making it a 4-0 score.
With blood in the water, a newly relaxed Gators offense delivered the final blow to the Knights' upset hopes.
Once again, Waleszonia took Kime deep, this time over the centerfield wall for a three-run blast.
UF would score six runs in that fourth inning, and suddenly the game was out of reach.
Nelson was unflinching inside the circle, allowing just one base runner - an infield single - on the way to her second shutout of UCF in three games.
Throughout the tournament there was speculation about how often Walton would throw his ace.
Using freshman Stephanie Brombacher for just one inning in the tournament, he cleared up any confusion.
"I'm not going to lose with my second pitcher," Walton said. "There's no way. I'm not going to finish the season, as great as Stephanie is, there's no way I'm going to do that.
"I love Stephanie to death but Stacey Nelson is hot, and I'm going to ride her out as far as she can go."
When the dust settled and the outcome was determined, the Gators left everything on the field - including a 37-game win streak and a 41-game home win streak.
In getting to the championship game, UF defeated Georgia Tech 7-2 Friday night, and UCF 3-0 Saturday afternoon, earning the flexibility to lose the first of two games on Sunday.
