Graphic: Kelly Streeter (UAA Communications)
WCWS: Oklahoma 5, Florida 4 (Instant Breakdown)
Tuesday, June 6, 2017 | Softball, Chris Harry
A quick wrap of UF's season-ending loss in Game 2 of the Women's College World Series national championship.
WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
GAME 2: OKLAHOMA 5, FLORIDA 4
WHAT HAPPENED: OU's Shay Knighten ripped a two-out, bases-loaded double in the second inning off UF reliever Delanie Gourley, a blow that proved the crushing one in a 5-4 win in Game 2 of the WCWS title series and delivered the Sooners a second straight national championship Tuesday night at the expense of the top-seeded Gators. After Knighten, who hit a stunning three-run homer in the 17th inning of the marathon Game 1, Oklahoma got nothing else off Gourley, who relieved Aleshia Ocasio in the second after hurling 10 relief innings the night before. But Florida, in turn, struggled to solve the Sooners' four-headed pitching monster, including Paige Lowary, the winner of Game 1 and Game 2 closer with two innings of hitless ball, as the sold-out and pro-OU crowd went wild at USA Hall of Fame Stadium. The two teams scored all their runs through the first three innings, with the Gators erasing a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the second, then the Sooners returning the favor with four runs a half-inning later to go up 5-3. The score was 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and the tying run, pinch-runner Alex Voss at second, when Lowary struck out Amanda Lorenz. Lowary then fanned the side in the bottom of the seventh to commence the OU dogpile.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In the bottom of the second, with one down, Ocasio, making her first start in more than a month, walked the No. 8 hitter Lea Wodach, who was hitting .162 on the season. Next, the Sooners' No. 9 hitter, Kelsey Arnold, reached first base on a 4-foot swinging bunt. Enter Gourley with the bases loaded. After striking out dangerous leadoff hitter Nicole Mendes, Gourley walked Caleigh Clifton to push home a run to make the score UF 3-2 with the bases still juiced. The next hitter was Knighten, who gapped her double to right-center, emptied the bases and gave OU and that versatile, talented and ultra-deep pitching staff a 5-3 advantage. Game over.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Knighten and Lowary. First Knighten, the OU first baseman, after winning the game with her dramatic homer Monday night, did the same Tuesday with her three-run double. She had six RBIs over three at-bats spanning the two games, with the game-winning RBI in both. Lowary, meanwhile, threw 12 1/3 innings over the two games, surrendering just two hits, two earned runs and striking out 10.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The UF pitching staff had a collective earned run average of 0.00 through the first three games, holding Texas A&M, LSU and Washington to just two runs, neither earned, through 20 innings. That ERA ballooned to 3.65 in 24 innings against the Sooners and their mighty bats. OU clubbed a combined four homers and eight extra-base hits in the two championship-series games.
UP NEXT: The Gators (58-10) will return to Gainesville on Wednesday and have a few days to process a disappointing WCWS outcome, but eventually come to terms with yet another phenomenal season for the program. Like Coach Tim Walton says, every season that ends in Oklahoma City is a success. And though UF fell short of its ultimate goal, it's a double-success when a season ends in the WCWS championship series. OU (61-9), meanwhile, will roll 30 minutes south to Norman and have a heckuva a celebration -- for the second straight year.
GAME 2: OKLAHOMA 5, FLORIDA 4
WHAT HAPPENED: OU's Shay Knighten ripped a two-out, bases-loaded double in the second inning off UF reliever Delanie Gourley, a blow that proved the crushing one in a 5-4 win in Game 2 of the WCWS title series and delivered the Sooners a second straight national championship Tuesday night at the expense of the top-seeded Gators. After Knighten, who hit a stunning three-run homer in the 17th inning of the marathon Game 1, Oklahoma got nothing else off Gourley, who relieved Aleshia Ocasio in the second after hurling 10 relief innings the night before. But Florida, in turn, struggled to solve the Sooners' four-headed pitching monster, including Paige Lowary, the winner of Game 1 and Game 2 closer with two innings of hitless ball, as the sold-out and pro-OU crowd went wild at USA Hall of Fame Stadium. The two teams scored all their runs through the first three innings, with the Gators erasing a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the second, then the Sooners returning the favor with four runs a half-inning later to go up 5-3. The score was 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and the tying run, pinch-runner Alex Voss at second, when Lowary struck out Amanda Lorenz. Lowary then fanned the side in the bottom of the seventh to commence the OU dogpile.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In the bottom of the second, with one down, Ocasio, making her first start in more than a month, walked the No. 8 hitter Lea Wodach, who was hitting .162 on the season. Next, the Sooners' No. 9 hitter, Kelsey Arnold, reached first base on a 4-foot swinging bunt. Enter Gourley with the bases loaded. After striking out dangerous leadoff hitter Nicole Mendes, Gourley walked Caleigh Clifton to push home a run to make the score UF 3-2 with the bases still juiced. The next hitter was Knighten, who gapped her double to right-center, emptied the bases and gave OU and that versatile, talented and ultra-deep pitching staff a 5-3 advantage. Game over.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Knighten and Lowary. First Knighten, the OU first baseman, after winning the game with her dramatic homer Monday night, did the same Tuesday with her three-run double. She had six RBIs over three at-bats spanning the two games, with the game-winning RBI in both. Lowary, meanwhile, threw 12 1/3 innings over the two games, surrendering just two hits, two earned runs and striking out 10.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The UF pitching staff had a collective earned run average of 0.00 through the first three games, holding Texas A&M, LSU and Washington to just two runs, neither earned, through 20 innings. That ERA ballooned to 3.65 in 24 innings against the Sooners and their mighty bats. OU clubbed a combined four homers and eight extra-base hits in the two championship-series games.
UP NEXT: The Gators (58-10) will return to Gainesville on Wednesday and have a few days to process a disappointing WCWS outcome, but eventually come to terms with yet another phenomenal season for the program. Like Coach Tim Walton says, every season that ends in Oklahoma City is a success. And though UF fell short of its ultimate goal, it's a double-success when a season ends in the WCWS championship series. OU (61-9), meanwhile, will roll 30 minutes south to Norman and have a heckuva a celebration -- for the second straight year.
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