OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was sort of starting to look like “Nicole DeWitt and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” All right, so it wasn't that awful, but Florida's talented freshman was awfully irked after her first four at-bats in Sunday's semifinals of the Women's College World Series.
She came into the game against Auburn hitting .345 average, third-best on the team, and coming off a two-hit performance, including her second home run of the season, in UF's defeat Friday night of LSU.
Here's how her Sunday began.
* 1st inning: Runner at second, no outs -- pop out to second.
* 3rd inning: Runners at first and second, one out -- popped out to short.
* 5th inning: Leading off, 2-0 count -- fouled out to shallow left.
* 7th inning: Winning run at second, two out -- substituted out for a pinch-hitter who was 0-for-her-last 29 at the plate (and proceeded to make it 0-for-30).
Here's how it ended.
* 9th inning: Walk-off.
DeWitt, inserted back in her No. 2 spot of the lineup, singled to shallow left to score speedy sophomore Justine McLean from second base with the decisive run in a 3-2 victory that propelled the top-seeded and reigning NCAA champion Gators (58-6) into the WCWS title series for the second straight year.
“I was just trying to keep it simple,” DeWitt said, “I'd had a rough couple of previous at-bats.”
Those other ones hardly mattered as DeWitt was mobbed by her teammates after ending a 3-hour, 17-minute marathon that featured defensive gems galore -- by both teams -- and national player of the year Lauren Haeger hurling her sixth straight complete game of the postseason to out-duel a trio of Tigers pitchers for her 30th win of the season.
Haeger may not have had her best stuff; just her toughest stuff. Auburn (56-11) got runners on base all nine innings, worked counts, fouled off a ton balls and forced Haeger to throw 160 pitches. For context: Haeger threw 160 pitches in her wins over Tennessee Thursday and LSU Friday combined. Haeger was touched up for 11 hits, the most she'd given up in a game this season, but buckled down to strand 14 Tigers on the base paths.
Coach Tim Walton said afterward that he was set to take Haeger out of the game in the fifth inning, but was talked out of it by Haeger and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha.
How much longer could she have gone?
“I'm all about adrenaline, the pump-up,” Haeger said. “I think I would have gone out there and done it as long as I could, for sure.”
Thank goodness, the Gators only needed her for nine innings, what with the best-of-three championship series against third-seeded Michigan (59-6) starting Monday night at Hall of Fame Stadium. Walton wasn't about to tip his hand regarding who he plans to send to the circle, but it's possible he'll have to look either to freshman Aleshia Ocasio or sophomore Delanie Gourley against the Wolverines, who like UF swept through their bracket unbeaten.
Michigan certainly had an easier time of it Sunday than Florida did. The Gators won their previous two games here by combining power, opportunistic great base-running, defense and domination from Haeger in the circle. They got more of the same against Auburn, but it smaller doses, thus making for a much closer game.
And better drama.
The Tigers, who played 17 innings of elimination softball Saturday in ousting Tennessee in the day and UCLA at night, got two runners on in the first, loaded the bases in the second, had first and third in third, and then -- after Florida went up 1-0 when McLean zipped home from third on a wild pitch -- took a 2-1 lead on Branndi Melero's single in the fourth.
“They took us out of our game a little bit,” Walton said.
Junior Taylore Fuller's solo homer in the UF fourth tied things at 2-all and that's where it stayed until the ninth, despite a seventh inning when both teams had golden chances to go up; and a maddening eight for the Gators.
Auburn got a one-out double from Haley Fagan in the seventh, but Haeger induced a groundout, then struck out Jade Rhodes. UF had the winning run at second in the seventh, but did not capitalize. Kelsey Stewart struck out and Brianna Little, batting for DeWitt, flew out to left to end the inning.
“I was frustrated, but I knew I had to get back in the dugout and cheer on Bri,” DeWitt said. “I had to help out my teammate and root for her in any way possible and hope for her to get the hit.”
More importantly, she had to keep herself mentally in the game.
The Gators had a chance to finish things off in the eighth by loading the bases with just one out. Enter freshman Kayli Kvistad, who drove a ball to center for what very well could have been a game-winning sacrifice fly had pinch-runner Francesca Martinez not been inexplicably two steps down the third base line when the ball was caught.
Martinez had to retreat to tag and was thrown out at home by Auburn center fielder Morgan Estell on a close play.
"It's an emotional play," Walton said. "The ball is stung like that and you're wanting to win. At the end of the day, yeah, we made a mistake. I should have had her closer to the bag a lot sooner."
In the Florida ninth, the Gators got the best base-runner into scoring position. McLean reached on a fielder's choice after a bunt attempt and got to second base on a wild pitch to Stewart. But UF's best hitter then popped to short for the second out, leaving matters to DeWitt.
Clearly, she'd kept herself mentally in the game.
“It's not her first rodeo,” Fuller said of DeWitt.
With all due respect, she'd not taken the reigns to ride in a rodeo of this magnitude. The circumstances. The pressure. The previous at-bats perhaps weighing on her mind.
“Nicole is a great hitter, so I was not surprised at all,” McLean said. “I was ready for it. And I was going home no matter what.”
DeWitt came to plate thinking contact by slap. She got a pitch she liked it and rapped it into short left field. With McLean at second, it was never a doubt.
“A bunch of people don't get to experience these things,” DeWitt said. “To know that I'm one of them, it's really cool.”
Call it, "Nicole DeWitt and the Incredible, Amazing, Not Bad, Very Good Day."
Monday should be pretty good, also.
