GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore Ava Brown hit a three-run home run and junior Jocelyn Erickson knocked in a pair of runs with a double, as No. 3-seed Florida completed a three-game sweep of the NCAA Gainesville Regional with an 8-0 shutout victory over Mercer in Sunday's title round at Pressly Stadium.
Sophomore right-hander Keagan Rothrock (14-5) got the win by allowing just one hit and striking out six over her 4.1 innings. She was relieved by sophomore Olivia Miller with two outs in the the bottom of the fifth in a game that was shortened -- like the Gators' first two outings in this regional -- by the eight-run mercy rule. It marked the first time in program history UF won all three games of a regional in run-rule fashion.
The Gators took their turn as visitors Sunday and freshman standout Taylor Shumaker got things going with a one-out single, her fourth hit in seven at-bats in the tournament. Though UF loaded the bases against Mercer starter Chad Stears, the Gators scored just once, with Shumaker coming home when shortstop Emma Dorval mishandled a ground ball by Mia Williams for a 1-0 lead.
UF made it 3-0 in its second with a couple walks, the second by Shumaker, led to two more runs on Erickson's double down the first-base line. The Gators made it 4-0 in their third when Korbe Otis lashed a double off the wall in right-center and Kenleigh Cahalan drove her home with an RBI single up the middle.
Brown's three-run homer in the UF fourth put the Gators one run and one inning from the mercy rule.
After Rothrock set the Bears down in order in the fourth, UF got that decisive eighth run on a sacrifice fly from Reagan Walsh. Rothrock and Miller combined to set Mercer down in order in the fifth to end the game.
Ava Brown gets a fist bump from Coach Tim Watlton as she rounds third after her three-run homer in the fourth inning of Sunday's regional win.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Brown parked her line-drive home run on top of the pitching lab in left field. It was her 10th homer of the season, giving the Gators a program-record six different players with double-digit home runs in the same season. The others: Shumaker (21), Williams (19), Erickson (15), Walsh (13) and Cahalan (10).
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Rothrock had a better Sunday outing than she did Saturday when she allowed six runs on eight hits, including a pair of homers, in a 14-6 defeat of Florida Atlantic. It would be an understatement, obviously, to say the team will need its best version of Rothrock, who last season went 33-9 and was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, for Super Regional play (and beyond).
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Gators are unbeaten in their last 11 home regionals, dating to the 2013 season. Their record in those regional is 33-1 by a combined score of 243-15, with 16 mercy-rule victories.
UP NEXT: Florida (46-11) will be home for next week's NCAA Super Regional round and will face either 14-seeded Duke or SEC rival Georgia. The Bulldogs defeated the Blue Devils in second-round play of the Durham (N.C.) Region on Saturday, with the two playing again Sunday for the bracket championship. Duke would have to beat UGA twice Sunday to advance to the Super round.
QUOTES
COACH TIM WALTON
* (On a third straight big offensive performance ): "To see the runs we score and how we played, it's very refreshing to know we can come out and compete in a tournament like this and turn the page to the next opponent. That's not easy to do. I have said this quite a few times: We're a tough matchup in a tournament. Really tough. That benefits us a little bit. Head to head, in a three-game series, obviously we've done very well with that during the year, but tournament style? We're a tough, tough matchup because our lineup is pretty good."
* (On the dominant nature of the program in regional play): "It's what these kids came here for. For the opportunity to compete for championships. We had some really good performances this weekend."
AVA BROWN
* (On winning 11 consecutive home regionals): "I think the biggest thing it says is that the Gators known how to play. I feel like we thrive under pressure because of how tough practice is and how tough we prepare. At the end of the day, it all goes back to how you prepare. Mentally, if you're ready to handle those moments, you're going to handle them. Across the roster, all 20 or 21 of us are all locked in and bought in to that process. Anybody in the starting nine or in the dugout can get it done. That says a lot for the program."
* (On the tough preparation the team had over the week and how that made them ready for the regional tournament): "I think there was nothing that we did that we didn't need. I think coming into this weekend, we knew, obviously going into postseason in general, we're going to earn it, we're not going to be given anything. No team wants it to be their last game. So, we prepared this week, like we would really any other week, competing against the best of the best, competing against each other. Getting each other better, pitchers, hitters, whatever, and I thin that's what best prepared us for this weekend."
*(On Brown's role as a relief pitcher): "I think I thrive in it. I love the situations that I've been put in. They've been tough, but I feel like if that is the role that my team needs me to be in, that's absolutely the role I'm happy to take on. And I think it's really benefited us."
KEAGAN ROTHROCK
* (On her performance after a tough outing Saturday): "I think it's just knowing, when stuff like that happens, I can bounce back from that, and knowing I'll always have the offense behind me. They were yesterday, and had my back. And today, just coming back out here and showing who I am and what I'm good at and continuing to do what I'm good at.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
