Nothing said at Saturday night’s press conference indicated that the UF softball team was disappointed in how its season ended, but it was evident.
Florida right fielder Jaimie Hoover slapped a ground ball to third base, turned and sprinted down the first-base line. Down two runs, the junior batted in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and put all of her energy into running the 60 feet to beat out the play. She was caught a step short.
Jordan Roberts stepped into the batter’s box as a pinch hitter in the Women’s College World Series.
The Florida Gators (55-9) arrived in Oklahoma City as the No. 2 overall seed and the favorite in their Women’s College World Series bracket to advance to the championship round.
The home run.
Almost exactly a year ago, Jordan Matthews was in Anaheim, California, being helped off the field by her El Dorado High School teammates. A senior at the time, Matthews tore her ACL after hitting a stand-up double in postseason play.
With her team down one run, UF pinch hitter Danielle Romanello stepped up to the plate with two outs, a runner on first and an opportunity to ignite a seventh-inning rally for the second-straight night. After the count reached 1-1, the freshman took to two big hacks at pitches from Texas A&M’s Payton McBride but couldn’t put metal on the softball to extend the game.
Janell Wheaton didn’t just walk to first base. She sprinted.
“This will never happen again.”
“The Florida Way.”
As a Gatorade shower rushed down the spine of UF pitcher Aleshia Ocasio, many of her teammates led the crowd at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the Gator Chomp.
Like a carousel, the UF softball team rotated through its lineup in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.
UF pinch hitter Jaimie Hoover sprinted across the bases in the bottom of the second inning. She knew the pitch smacked to dead center field was destined to leave the ballpark, but she couldn’t wait to round the bases and greet her teammates.
UF’s Aleshia Ocasio stood in the circle as her teammates rushed to meet her.
UF third baseman Nicole DeWitt embraced teammates Kayli Kvistad and Amanda Lorenz at home plate. She just launched a two-run home run into the stratosphere above the Mizzou Softball Stadium, sparking a three-run opening inning for the No. 4 Gators.
Crack!
Tied at four apiece in the top of the seventh, senior first baseman Kayli Kvistad knew what it was going to take to finish Florida softball’s uphill battle against the Missouri Tigers.
As a pinch hitter with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, UF sophomore Jordan Roberts stepped into the batter’s box with one mission: get a hit and extend the inning.
In the top of the sixth, senior catcher Janell Wheaton walked up to home plate with an 0-1 count.
Things looked pretty grim at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium as the Gators entered the bottom of the fifth, down 3-0 to the LSU Tigers.
Solutions by The State News
