NCAA TOURNAMENT
GAINESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL / GAME 1
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Former Florida standout Mia Williams blasted a two-run homer in the Texas Tech seventh inning that doused an emotional rally by the host Gators and sent 11th-seeded Texas Tech to a 10-8 victory in the opening game of the best-of-three NCAA Gainesville Super Regional Friday at Pressly Stadium.
Williams' homer, her 23rd of the season, came after the Gators erased deficits of 7-1 in the fifth inning and 8-4 in the sixth, with Ava Brown's3-run homer in the bottom of the latter -- off four-time All-American and 2025 NCAA Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady -- tying the game at 8-8. Brown, the designated hitter, was sensational in going 3-for-4 with five RBI and two homers.
UF, though, could not capitalize on the comeback. The Gators' third of four pitchers in the game, Katelynn Oxley, walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, then served up Williams' homer, a bomb over the left field pitching lab, one hitter later. Leah Stevens replaced Oxley and closed out the inning with her team down down two runs.
The Gators got the leadoff runner on base in the bottom of the seventh, but Canady (24-5), the $1 million NIL ace, set down the next three Gators in order to close the game and put the home team on the brink.
Williams went 2-for-3, reached base four times and had with three RBI, while outfielder Raiders Lauren Allred had three hits in four trips, plus four RBI, including one of her team's three homers. Catcher Lagi Quiroga went 2-for-2, with two RBI and a homer. Texas Tech finished with 12 hits, three home runs and 10 RBI as a team.
UF took a 1-0 advantage in the first inning off Tech starter Kaitlyn Terry on an RBI single by Kendall Grover. It took a couple more innings before the Red Raiders got to Gators starter Keagan Rothrock, albeit with the help of a crucial unearned run.
Terry, also her team's leading hitter with a .470 average coming in, reached on an error by shortstopKenleigh Cahalan to start the fourth. With two outs, Hailey Toney grounded a hard double down the first base line to score Terry from second. The next batter, Quiroga, hit a hard grounder into the left side hole that bounced off Cahalan's glove and caromed into the outfield, scoring Toney from second and giving Quiroga a double. A similar play played out for the very next hitter, Williams, who doubled off Cahalan's glove to plate Quiroga for a 3-1 lead.
The Red Raiders added four more in their fifth, all at the expense of reliever Olivia Miller, who faced just six batters. Singles by Terry and Mihiya Davis were answered by a three-run homer from Allred to make it 6-1. Two batters later, Quiroga hit a towering shot over the stadium's scoreboard for a 7-1 lead.
The Gators cut into the margin with a pair of homers from Brown and Townsen Thomasin the fifth to make it 7-4, but the Raiders scratched out another in their sixth on an RBI single by Allred for an 8-4 advantage. Then came UF's dramatic four-run sixth, with Brown's second homer and 10th of the season igniting the home dugout and the fans. Momentarily, as it turned out.
Ava Brown rounds third after blasting her second homer of the game.
PLAY OF THE GAME: At the time, Brown's big blast felt huge (and it was), but Williams' homer trumped it and made for quite the homecoming for a player who started every game at second base for the Gators during the 2024 and '25 seasons.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Florida pitching staff has given up at least nine runs in five of the last eight games and at least 12 hits in four games during that span. The four UF pitchers combined to strike out just one Tech hitter.
UP NEXT: The two teams will meet in Game 2 Saturday at 12:30 p.m., with the Gators (51-11) playing for their season and Red Raiders (56-6) looking to clinch a second consecutive trip to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City next week. If UF can win, a decisive Game 3 will be played Sunday, with the time to be determined.
NOTABLES
Friday marked the first multi-home run game of Ava Brown's junior season and second of her career. Her five RBIs matched her career-best
With 10 home runs on the season, Brown has now hit double-digit home runs in three straight seasons
With 595 hits on the season, Florida is just two hits shy of matching the single-season program best of 597 hits, set during the 2008 season
The Gators' four home runs were the most in a Super Regional game in program histor
QUOTES
Coach Tim Walton * (Opening statement): "For about 15 minutes that was one of the best softball games TV viewership could have. The comeback, the three-run homer, the fight and resilency was just awesome to see and anything you could have asked for. Obviously, it wasn't enough. Did definitely like that bounceback. We talked post-game about working hard tomorrow, getting back at it and doing what we do and doing it better." * (On the rally from the 7-1 deficit): "This team has been here throughout the entire season. We've had games like that on a Friday night. I think the message is the same: It's a series. It's not a one-game-take-all. It's a series. That was the message in the dugout. I talked to the team after the game. My message was loud and clear. That's on me. I'll take the blame for the loss. We played terrible. We hit the ball well, we scored eight runs, but we played terrible. I'm not going to hide from that. I told them the same thing. We played terrible. It's on me to get our team ready to play a big game and we didn't play very well, like we played all year long. But it's a series, not a game. I'm not going to put responsibiity on a young person. It's the coach's job. That's what I get paid for, to get our players ready to play ball. They need to play better. We will play better tomorrow." * (On the UF pitching): "We're going to do a better job tomorrow."
Ava Brown * (On her performance at the plate): "I was really just trying to have really good quality at-bats, which is something the coaches have preached all week. Just being a tough out, finding pitches we could hit hard." * (On the comeback): "I really liked the fight the team had. I thought we did a good job scoring early, but we really just have to keep the momentum as we go, eliminate poor body language, eliminate letting one mistake become two. I think if we keep the wheels together and keep everyone on the same page, we'll be in a good spot." * (On playing three-game Super Regions the last two season): "All through SEC, we've played three-game series. We've been punched in the mouth before in Game 1 and found ways to come back. Just try to keep that same mentality and not make it any bigger than it is and stay together as a team."
UAA communications director Lauren Staff contributed to this report.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
