Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Aleshia Ocasio's bases-loaded single in the fourth inning Saturday knocked in a couple runs and gave top-seeded Florida a lead midway through its NCAA regional against Oklahoma State. 

That 2-0 margin stood up and allowed the Gators to remain in the winner's bracket and advance to Sunday's championship round in the enviable position of needing to win just one of a potential two games. That's means the opponent — be it OSU, Florida International or Florida A&M — all but surely will have to beat Kelly Barnhill, who fired a one-hit shutout and struck out 15 Cowboys on her way to improving to 23-1 on the season and lowering her ERA to 0.30. 

"She's one of the best pitchers in the world," said OSU coach Kenny Gajewski, the former UF assistant who helped recruit Barnhill. "I don't think there's any debating that." 

As such, a two-run lead for Barnhill at home probably had the Gators feeling pretty good about themselves, right? 

Actually, Tim Walton didn't go there. He wants a little more from his offense. 

"You have confidence, but it doesn't make you feel comfortable in the dugout when one swing of the bat can tie the game," Walton said. "You feel good she's not going to give up a lot, but still, I'd like to see us score at least four runs so one swing doesn't change the game." 
 
Offensively, the Gators managed just three hits and stranded six runners against the Cowgirls' combination of Brandi Needham and Logan Simuek. Ocasio's timely hit, which came with two out, loomed even larger when Florida loaded the bases in the fifth with two down and came away with nothing. 

That two-run lead held up because Barnhill put the Cowgirls down when. In the sixth, with runners at the corners and two outs, Barnhill struck out the potential go-ahead run, Madi Sue Montgomery, on three pitches. In the seventh, OSU pinch-hitter Whitney Whitehorn represented the tying run when she stepped to the plate with two outs. Barnhill struck her out, too. 

Walton: "I've said it million times. Kelly Barnhill is special."

And yet, there are no givens in this game. It was just two weeks ago that Barnhill, basically unhittable the entire season, surrendered a walk-off two-run homer to Florida State in the 11th inning. Granted, the Seminoles are a top-five team armed with considerably more firepower than the trio of opponents in the Gainesville Regional. 

But if anyone needs a reminder about how unforgiving margins of error can be, just rewind to last May when the Gators, up 2-1, were one strike away from forcing a decisive third game in their Super Regional against Georgia when a Bulldog walk-off homer ended UF's season in stunning and heartbreaking fashion. 

That said, the idea of postseason play is to do enough to keep playing. The Gators know how to do that. 

Make that 14 straight regional wins, dating to the 2013 season, and 12 consecutive shutouts from six Florida pitchers along the way. After Delanie Gourley no-hit Florida A&M for a 9-0, five-inning win in Friday's first-round action, the Gators have yielded just one hit in two regional games. 

"I think we could all get up here and be pretty critical about how many hits we got and how many runs we scored," Walton scored. "But when you're playing postseason softball the only thing that matters is a W." 

Anytime Barnhill is in the circle, the Gators will be overwhelming favorites to get that "W." Against the Cowgirls, she didn't even have her best stuff, walking two batters and hitting another. Walton said she had it going on two planes, but she's capable of spinning it at three. 

"When she's on three levels she's impossible to hit," he said. 

But on days she has to settle for just those two levels, Walton would love to see the Gators take their offense to the next level. If so, they just may be impossible to beat.