Morgan’s one-hitter leads No. 1 seed Texas past Florida 10-0, into the Women’s CWS semifinals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two games, two one-hitters for Texas at the Women’s College World Series.
Mac Morgan threw a one-hitter and the top-seeded Longhorns rolled past No. 4 Florida 10-0 in five innings on Saturday to reach the semifinals.
Morgan only threw 71 pitches. The junior’s success helped the Longhorns rest freshman ace Teagan Kavan, who threw a one-hitter on Thursday in a win over Stanford.
“Honestly, I was just trying to produce groundballs for my defense because my defense showed up for me,” Morgan said. “It was my turn to show up for them. My drop ball was working. I was looking for locations and trying to get my defense to work.”
Morgan took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Florida’s Katie Kistler led off with a single. That was all the offense the Gators mustered.
“We just got our butts kicked,” Florida coach Tim Walton said.
Texas (54-8) needs one win Monday to reach the best-of-three championship series. The Longhorns are seeking their first national championship after a runner-up finish in 2022.
“We know there’s a lot of work ahead of us,” Texas coach Mike White said. “There’s other great teams coming through. Can’t get too far ahead of ourselves and we’ll be ready to play.”
Florida (52-14) plays No. 14 Alabama in an elimination game on Sunday.
“Get an opportunity to see what our team is made of and how long they want to continue to play,” Walton said.
The teams will play regularly in the future. Texas is leaving the Big 12 to join Florida in the Southeastern Conference after the season.
If Saturday’s game was an indicator, the Longhorns will be fine.
Florida pulled ace Keagan Rothrock in the first inning. The SEC Freshman of the Year gave up four runs and registered just one out.
“Typically when she goes good, she goes good,” Walton said. “When she goes bad, she goes bad.”
Ava Brown replaced Rothrock, and the first batter she faced, Alyssa Washington, cranked a 3-run homer. Texas rolled up five runs in the inning to take control.
Mia Scott’s solo shot with two outs in the fourth made it 6-0, and Katie Stewart’s three-run blast later in the inning made it 9-0.
Now, Florida will need to bounce back quickly.
“I think we’re going to control the vibes, keep the vibes loose, have fun,” Florida shortstop Skylar Wallace said. “We really have nothing to lose at this point. You just have to play softball.”
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