Walsh’s homer, Rothrock’s 3-hitter carry Florida past Georgia 6-1 in super regional opener

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Reagan Walsh hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Keagan Rothrock threw a two-hitter to carry third-seeded Florida to a 6-1 win over unseeded Georgia in the opening game of the Gainesville NCAA Super Regional on Friday.

Game 2 in the best-of-three series is Saturday morning as the Gators try to erase the memory of the last two times the teams met in a super regional, both at Florida. The unseeded Bulldogs knocked off the top overall seed in two games in 2016 and blanked the Gators twice in 2021.

Walsh’s one-out drive, her 14th, went to left field on a 3-2 pitch from Randi Roelling (11-9), who had walked Taylor Shumaker and hit Jocelyn Erickson.

That was all Rothrock (15-5) needed. She took a no-hitter into the sixth, facing just one batter over the minimum. Emma Castorri doubled leading off the sixth, went to third on a single by Dallis Goodnight and scored on a throwing error by catcher Erickson on a pickoff attempt. Rothrock struck out seven, walked two and hit one batter.

Florida’s Ava Brown hit a two-run homer, her in seventh in the last 11 games and 11th overall, and Kendra Falby had an RBI double.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports