Baylor forces Gators into winner-take-all for Super Regional title

Skylar Wallace slid safely into second with a first inning stolen base (UAA Photo)

Two days into a steady diet of offspeed pitches that have clearly thrown off the timing of his hitters, Tim Walton has a very simple solution to what ails Florida’s hitters.

“It doesn't take perfect swings or perfect outcome to hit the ball hard, line drives are the key,” Walton said Saturday afternoon after the Gators dropped a 5-2 decision to Baylor that evened up the Gainesville NCAA Super Regional at 1-1, setting the stage for a winner-take-all encounter at 2 p.m. today.

The Gators hit the ball hard but too often right at people Friday when they beat the Bears, 4-2. Five hits were all the Gators (50-13) needed to win game one. They got only five hits Saturday. Other than the three rockets Skylar Wallace hit for singles and the home run that Reagan Walsh hit down the left field line in the second, there weren’t that many hard hit balls. Credit to Baylor for robbing the Gators of three hits with brilliant defensive plays Saturday, but it’s not like the Gators lacked opportunities to score runs and put the pressure on the Bears (36-22).

Baylor’s Rylee Crandall (18-7) says she just followed the analytics, threw to the location her pitching coach signaled and mixed up speeds. Basically, it’s the same thing Aliyah Binford did on Friday.

Baylor’s pitchers have been good. The Bears might be the best defensive team the Gators have played all year. Still, Walton insists it’s less about the Bears than it is about the Gators and it really isn’t about all the offspeed pitches the Bears are throwing, either.

“The pitch sequence isn't the issue,” Walton said. “It's being able to understand the part of the ball that you want to hit. I think that's always the key is deciding drop, change, rise change, screw, change. Just being able to understand the leverage point to where you're going to be.

“I don't really feel like the pitches are as important as the confidence, the trust, the ability to follow the pathway of your body and your eyes to get to the barrel. We've got to just get more line drives. I think that's the goal, just more line drives.”

The Gators got a two-out single and a stolen base from Wallace in the top of the first, but Crandall got Jocelyn Erickson to ground an offspeed pitch to second to end the inning.

Baylor found obvious inspiration when Gators failed to draw first blood in the top of the first. In their half of the inning, the Bears made a statement of their own when the first two hitters reached base on a walk and a single followed by a monstrous homer to left center by Shaylon Govan. That sent Walton to the circle, starting pitcher Keagan Rothrock (29-7) to the dugout and brought in Ava Brown to go the rest of the way.

Brown more than held her own against the Baylor lineup. She gave up a second inning run on a 2-out wild pitch and a seventh inning run on a single, a hit batter, a bunt single and a sacrifice fly.

Outside of those first three hitters in the first inning, pitching wasn’t Florida’s problem. Getting key hits was.

In the Florida half of the third, Korbe Otis reached on a 1-out walk and Wallace drilled a single straight up the middle, but Crandall cooled off the threat with back-to-back strikeouts of Erickson and Walsh.

Florida cut the lead to 4-2 in the fifth. Pinch-hitter Baylee Goddard led off the inning by beating out an infield grounder. After consecutive ground outs by Kendra Falby and Korbe Otis, Wallace delivered her third hit of the day, an RBI single pulled to the right of an infield shifted to take away anything up the middle. There was no rally to be had, however, because Crandall got Erickson to ground into an easy force at second on a 1-0 count.

There would be no further chances for the Gators as Crandall set down the final six batters to force game three for a shot at the Women’s College World Series.

The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak that dated back to April 28. The day before the Gators melted down in a game two loss to Georgia, but they bounced on Sunday with a 10-7 win over the Bulldogs. In all but two of the 12 wins, Florida’s ability to hit the ball and score runs was the critical factor in the equation.

Now, the Gators are charged with bouncing back after two subpar offensive showings in a row. Walton seemed confident the Gators will respond.

“We've done it all year,” he said. “This has not been an easy year. We won 50 games, but there were plenty of times this team had an opportunity to roll over and die. They just always found a way to continue to pass the bat and continue to get better. It's been an offensive team. Let's be honest. We've been an offensive team all year. We scored six runs in two games. In my mind, it's not enough. We need to score more runs. That'll be the goal.”

And just how do the Gators achieve that goal. Certainly, they have to hit the ball better than they have either of their two games with Baylor, but Walton says there is more to it than just hitting.

“It's about what you think,” he said. “It's about what you feel. It's about your heart. And it's about your trust. You've got to trust. You've got to trust yourself. You've got to trust your teammates. You've got to trust the process. And most importantly, you've got to trust your team. I think that's the message.”

Gator notes: In the month of May, Skylar Wallace has raised her batting average 55 points to .423. Wallace is 22-35 in May, a sizzling .629 with six doubles, five home runs and 24 RBI … In SEC Tournament and NCAA play, Wallace is 16-21 (.762) with four home runs and 17 RBI … Walsh’s home run was her team-leading 17thof the season … Falby, who leads off and gets the UF offense jump started, is just 5-29 in Florida’s last eight games. Her last multi-hit game was on May 5 against Texas A&M … Walton gave no indication who pitches Sunday, whether it’s Brown (15-5) or Rothrock (29-7). Baylor is likely to go with both Crandall and Binford (13-12).  

SEC in the NCAA Super Regionals

Gainesville: Baylor (36-22) 5, FLORIDA (50-13) 2; series even at 1-1

Austin: Texas (51-8) 9, Texas A&M (43-14) 8, 9 innings; series even at 1-1

Knoxville: Alabama (36-18) 3, Tennessee (44-11) 2, 14 innings; series even at 1-1

Columbia: Missouri (48-17) 3, Duke (51-7) 1; series even at 1-1

Stanford: Stanford (47-15) 3, LSU (44-15) 0; series even at 1-1