GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With the bases load in the fourth inning, Florida's
Kirsti Merritt took ball four, dropped her bat and headed for first base, while teammate
Taylore Fuller slow-trotted in from the third.
Kelsey Stewart was not slow-trotting.
Stewart, who was on second, zipped to third, rounded the bag and took a glance at UCF pitcher Jamie Ujvari.
"It was just something I saw," Stewart said.
And something Ulvari didn't see because she wasn't paying attention. So Stewart just kept running. About 15 feet from home plate, Stewart was closing in on the runner in front of her when she let out a gasp.
"FULLER! GO!"
"She just yelled at me," Fuller said. "I didn't know what was happening."
The Gators, as they've been known to do this time of year, were going for it, that's what. With that (a steal of home the likes of which you rarely see), Florida added two runs when it should have been one. Two pitches later,
Nicole DeWitt launched a three-run homer over the right-field fence that pushed No. 1-ranked UF to an 8-0 lead that required just three outs in the ensuing top of the fifth to close out the Knights and Sunday's NCAA Tournament regional championship round by virtue of the mercy run rule.
Once again, Florida was deadly efficient in the tournament's first weekend, winning all three games by shutout, allowing just three hits and playing errorless in the field. Not like this was any surprise. The Gators have now swept the last three regionals by an aggregate score of 67-0, a run of dominance that practically has become expected around here.
As such, UF is headed to its ninth Super Regional in the last 10 years, with the Gators (56-5) hosting No. 16 Georgia (41-18) in a best-of-three format Thursday and Friday at Pressly Stadium. The winner advances to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, where the Gators have laid claim to the last two national championships.
"When you don't give up runs, you can't ever lose. That's been our mantra since 2007, ever since we went to our first Super Regional," Coach
Tim Walton said. "It's our ninth Super Regional as a program. That's something that's very difficult to do and I think our kids make it look easy at times."
With plays like Stewart made -- a heads-up one against an opponent that fell asleep (if only for a second) -- it's little wonder.
When Stewart crossed the plate, Ujvari didn't even know it. Her team had to call a timeout, come to the circle and explain what had just happened, with the help of the home plate umpire. Was that mental mistake still in Ujvari's head when she proceeded to face DeWitt?
"Definitely," UCF coach Renee Luers-Gillispee said. "I'm sure that took a toll on her."
Now, juxtapose where Ujvari was mentally compared to DeWitt, who in her two previous at-bats popped to shallow right with a runner on second and none out in the second, then popped to second with the bases loaded and none out in the third.
She was locked in.
"I was just trying to make an adjustment from the two previous at-bats. I was in my own head from those and just tried to get out of it; hit a line drive, hit something hard," DeWitt said. "I got a hold of one."
The result (beyond her sixth homer of the season) was just another routine regional rout.
"That's how we play," Fuller said. "We don't settle for anything less."
The Gators are two wins from their fourth straight WCWS and eighth in the last nine years. Yes, it's gotten to the point where Walton's teams won't settle for less.
"It makes me proud of how we've handled the success and what we've built here," Walton said. "It's very special. Now, we have to go on."
They'll keep running.
No slow-trotting, either.
