Softball Sweeps South Carolina
- EDDIE GILLEY
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
After the weekend, the Gators are in third place with a 14-4 record trailing Alabama by one game and Oklahoma by two in the loss column.
By EDDIE GILLEY
The Gators needed to take at least two of three to keep pace with the other leaders at the top of the SEC. Alabama swept Auburn in Auburn who has been struggling of late. Oklahoma two of the three games at Texas. Florida did them one better and swept the Gamecocks.
After the weekend, the Gators are in third place with a 14-4 record trailing Alabama by one game and Oklahoma by two in the loss column.
Florida got a gem in the circle from ace Keagan Rothrock on Friday night. She walked 5 Gamecocks and struck out 8 while throwing a complete-game no-hitter! It’s been almost 7 years since that had been done against an SEC opponent for the Gators.
The last time a Gator pitcher had done that in Columbia was 26 years ago.
The offense was led by Townsen Thomas who went 3-4 at the plate. She also hit her third home runs of the season in the 7th with Kenleigh Cahalan on to pad the Gator’s margin to 5 runs which made the final 5-0.
The Gator bats got hot on Saturday in Columbia. They
got 16 hits and scored 15 runs in the 5-inning run rule shortened game.
The Gators trailed 2-0 going into the third inning after starter Katelynn Oxley gave up the two runs in the second. On the day the Gators hit 4 three-run homers. Two by Jocelyn Erickson including her first one in the third that put the Gators up 3-2.
In that same inning Cassidy McLellan hit a laser shot to right field for the second three-
run homer by the Gators in the inning. In a case of déjà vu, Erickson blasted another three-runbomb in the fourth.
Kenleigh Cahalan joined the three-run bomb squad with one of her own in the 5th inning. The Gators scored 15 unanswered runs to win the series and take the heart out of the Gamecock squad.
Olivia Miller came in to relieve Oxley to pick up the win by finishing the next three innings with 4 hits and 1 strike out.
The Gators swept the Gamecocks by winning the getaway game,
6-1. After the Gators scored in the first inning on a Jocelyn Erickson single that scored Taylor Shumaker who led off the game with a double that just missed clearing the fence in left field, SC tied the game with a solo shot in the 3rd.
The Gators scored twice in the fourth on a Madison Walker double and a fielding error by the Gamecocks’ first baseman on a ball hit hard by Gabi Comia. In the 5th, Kendall Grover hit a double in the gap to score Thomas, Cahalan, and Erickson to wrap up the scoring for the weekend.
Keagan Rothrock picked up the win, going 5.2 innings, giving up only 4 hits and the one earned run. Miller came in to seal the deal by going the final 1.1 innings. Rothrock moves to 21-4 on the season.
Cassidy McLellan paced the Gators with a .625 batting average and three walks for the series. Erickson had one more hit and went 6-10 for the weekend with five extra base hits including the two home runs on Saturday. Each of them drove in 7 runs for the weekend.
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