Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Through four innings, second-seeded, fourth-ranked and host Florida was scoreless and trailed Ohio State by a pair of runs. The Gators had left 10 on base and were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. 

The crowd at Pressly Stadium was a little antsy. 

UF coach Tim Walton was not. 

"Oh-for-eight?" Walton would say after what wound up being a 10-2 rout for the Gators that ended in the sixth inning due to the eight-run mercy rule and moved his program into Sunday's NCAA regional championship round for the sixth straight season. "We had eight runners on base. I'll take that as a positive more than a negative."

It's all about perspective. From Walton's standpoint, his team was mounting threats and an opponent can only hold off the likes of Amanda Lorenz, Nicole DeWitt and Kayli Kvistad so often when those hitters are coming to the plate five times in a game. As it turned out, the Buckeyes had a big stake in letting that happen. 

As for the plan going into Saturday's winner's bracket showdown, the Gators were under their usual orders to take pitches. Lots of them. It was even more key in this particular game, what with the high postseason stakes, but also because Ohio State's two best pitchers, Shelby McCombs and Morgan Ray, had track records for control issues. Coming into the game, the two had walked 106 and 108 batters this season, respectively. Compare that to all four Florida pitchers who had combined to walk 98 this season. 

Now, throw in UF's reputation for patience. The Gators ran their season's walk total to 305 in Friday night's opening-round win over Bethune-Cookman. That number swelled to 320 after drawing a season-high 15 walks against the Buckeyes, including five in the seven-run sixth inning that finished the game. Two of the five walks in the sixth came with the bases loaded. 

For the game, Ohio State's three pitchers threw 80 balls to just 60 strikes. That's an incredible ratio. Incredibly favorable for the Gators, that is. 

"We're good at taking balls," Lorenz said. 

Clearly. 
 
McCombs started for OSU and limited UF to just one hit through four innings, but she walked seven. Twice the Gators had the bases loaded and came away with nothing. Frustrating. 

"No," Lorenz said. "There was a lot of game left."

Meanwhile, Gators ace Kelly Barnhill served up her 17th homer of the season, a solo shot to Ashley Goodwin in the fourth, then a two-out, run-scoring single to Lilli Piper in the fifth for that 2-0 deficit. Stress? 

Lorenz again: "For us, it was more like, 'When is it going to happen?' Then it happened."

UF's fifth started, naturally, with a leadoff walk, this one to Jordan Matthews. One out later, Aleshia Ocasio walked. The next batter, freshman Jordan Roberts, reached on an error by the shortstop to load the bases. Jaimie Hoover, who Friday had a career-high five RBI in the 8-0 shutout of BCC, squared up a dead-solid single to center that was hit so hard Walton had to hold the runner coming around third base. It was 2-1, but the bases were still loaded. The next batter, leadoff hitter Hannah Adams reached on a fielder's choice, leaving the moment — bases jammed, but now two outs — to Lorenz. 

The Southeastern Conference Player of the Year worked the count to 3-2. She knew exactly what she wanted to do and exactly the pitch she was looking for. 

"I just wanted to get a ground ball through the infield, not do too much," she said. "Something to get a run in." 

Her grounder through the right side got two in and pushed UF in front 3-2. 

The Gators needed no more, but scored a bunch more an inning later, nonetheless, by sticking to their game plan and making the Buckeyes throw good pitches that became good, level cuts at the ball and solid contact. 

Or walking.

"We don't want to walk — I know Amanda Lorenz does not want to walk — but you have to understand that if you swing at balls you're going to pop it up or hit an easy fly ball or hit ground balls to the second baseman or shortstop," Walton said. "It's all about us getting good swings on good pitches."

Or, if not, taking their base. 

As long as pitchers are giving bases away, might as well take 'em, right? After all, they add up. To runs. And wins.