Former Gator Mia Williams Sinks Florida in Super Regional Thriller

Down 7-1, Florida looked doomed in Game 1 of the NCAA Super Regional at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The Gators didn’t back down, clawing their way back to tie it 8-8, but a familiar face at KSP delivered the final blow.

Former Florida player Mia Williams crushed a two-run homer to left field in the seventh inning, lifting Texas Tech to a 10-8 win Friday night in a drama-filled opener.

“That’s on me,” Florida coach Tim Walton said. “I’ll take the blame for the loss, we played terribly.”

Florida ace Keagan Rothrock got the start after dominating regional play, pitching 15 innings while allowing only two runs. With all eyes on Williams’ return to Gainesville, Rothrock sent an early message by hitting Williams with the first pitch of the game. Texas Tech later drew a walk but stranded two runners in the opening inning.

Facing one of the nation’s top pitchers in Kaitlyn Terry, Taylor Shumaker’s first at-bat did not disappoint. The sophomore battled through an 11-pitch plate appearance before drawing a walk. Ava Brown followed with a single to quickly put pressure on the Red Raiders.

Kendall Grover capitalized on the opportunity with an RBI single into left field, scoring Shumaker to give Florida a 1-0 lead.

Florida turned a 6-4-3 double play in the second inning to erase an earlier error, but the defensive miscues caught up to the Gators in the fourth.

A second error by Kenleigh Cahalan put Terry on base, and she stole second during Rothrock’s first strikeout of the game. Texas Tech immediately took advantage.

Hailey Toney lined an RBI double down the right-field line to tie the game and swing momentum toward the Red Raiders. Lagi Quiroga followed with another RBI double to give Texas Tech a 2-1 lead before Williams added a third straight RBI double off Cahalan’s glove to make it 3-1.

All three runs were unearned as Florida’s errors proved costly.

Florida coach Tim Walton decided he had seen enough from Rothrock and turned to Olivia Miller, but the Red Raiders kept rolling. After two singles, Lauren Allred silenced the crowd at KSP with a three-run homer off the scoreboard to extend the lead to 6-1.

Quiroga followed with a towering solo shot over the scoreboard to push the lead to 7-1.

“Our lineup is so deep, anybody that goes up to the plate can make something happen,” Allred said.

Down six runs, Florida finally responded.

Jocelyn Erickson reached second on a Texas Tech error before Brown launched a two-run homer to center field to cut the deficit to 7-3. Moments later, Townsen Thomas made it back-to-back home runs with a shot that barely cleared the fence.

“That was legit,” Walton said about Brown. “Out of everything I’ve seen from Ava Brown in a close game, I know she will be there.”

Texas Tech answered in the sixth when Allred delivered her fourth RBI of the game with a single to extend the lead to 8-4.

With their season beginning to slip away, the Gators made one final push.

Madison Walker opened the inning with Florida’s third homer of the day, trimming the deficit to three and ending Terry’s night. Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco then turned to star pitcher Nijaree Canady to shut the door.

Instead, Florida kept swinging. Canady hit Ella Wesolowski with her first pitch before Gabi Comia singled. Although Canady struck out Shumaker and Erickson, Brown delivered again. The junior crushed a three-run homer deep into left-center field, bringing KSP to its feet and tying the game at 8-8.

“The fight and resiliency was awesome to see,” Walton said, “It was anything you could ever ask for but it wasn’t enough.”

But Williams had the final answer. The former Gator launched a two-run homer over Florida’s bullpen in the seventh inning off Katelynn Oxley, giving Texas Tech the lead for good.

Canady regrouped in the bottom half of the inning and retired Florida in order to secure the Game 1 victory.

Both teams return to action Saturday at 12:30 p.m., with Florida now facing elimination.

“It’s on me, they need to play better,” Walton said, “That’s my responsibility and we will play better Saturday.” 

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