Florida Gators eliminated by Oklahoma in extras on walk-off homer
An impressive postseason run for the Florida Gators softball team ended Tuesday following its first WCWS semifinal since 2017 and capturing the program’s sixth SEC Tournament title.
After snapping Oklahoma’s 20-game tournament winning streak Monday to force another game, UF was eliminated from the Women’s College Series with a 6-5 loss in eight innings.
The Sooners rallied from a three-run deficit to tie the game in the sixth and force extras before senior Jayda Coleman beat the Gators on a walk-off homer.
With the win, Oklahoma — the three-time defending national champions — advances to the Women’s College World Series final for the fourth season in a row.
The Gators hit a home run in each of the first three innings against Oklahoma pitcher Kelly Maxwell, who had allowed just 12 homers all season before Tuesday.
Florida and OU traded two-run shots in the first as UF’s Jocelyn Erickson left the yard in the top of the inning, followed by Ella Parker’s homer for the Sooners.
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Florida Gators freshman Ariel Kowalewski answered in the second inning a two-run blast facing two outs and two strikes, marking her eighth home run of the season.
Reagan Walsh then did what she does, launching a solo shot in the third to give the Gators a 5-2 lead 100 homers on the year, with a team-high 18 from her.
But OU battled back, cutting the deficit to one with Cydney Sanders’s two-run homer in the fourth and tying the game on Parker’s two-out RBI single in the sixth.
The Sooners will face rival Texas in the WCWS championship series, starting Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Florida finishes the 2024 season with a 54-15 record.
