Florida softball has swept an SEC team at home for the first time in two years.
The Gators defeated Missouri 5-2 Monday evening at Katie Seashole Pressley Stadium to sweep the Tigers and begin conference play 3-0.
Just like in the first two games of the series, the Gators jumped out to the lead. Jocelyn Erickson had her fourth and fifth RBIs of the series with a single in the second inning. A Mizzou error scored Taylor Shumaker from first to put the Gators ahead 3-0.
That turned out to be all the runs Florida needed. Two more came in the form of insurance thanks to a Taylor Shumaker two run bomb in the fourth.
In the circle, Keagan Rothrock dealt her best game of the season. She hurled five 1-2-3 innings and took a shutout into the seventh inning.
The Tigers generated some noise in that seventh with a runner on second and one out after plating two, but Rothrock escaped. She becomes the first UF pitcher since Hannah Rodgers in 2011 to win all three games of an SEC series.
Florida heads to Kentucky for a three-game series Friday.
Florida softball vs. Missouri Game 3 live updates
T7: Missouri plates first runs of the game
Tigers put runners on second and third with one out, and Abby Carr singles past first baseman Madison Walker. Tigers score both runners and cut the Florida lead to 5-2.
B4: Taylor Shumaker goes yard for the first time this weekend
Shumaker with a two out home run to give Florida its biggest lead of the weekend at 5-0. It scores Cassidy McLellan, who singled earlier in the inning.
B2: Jocelyn Erickson clears bases for Florida softball
Erickson continues her hot weekend for the Gators with a two out single to center with the bases loaded. Missouri CF Kayley Lenger mishandled the ball, allowing Taylor Shumaker to score from first and Erickson to advance to second. Kenleigh Cahalan flies out to end the inning, but the Gators take a 3-0 lead over Missouri through two innings.
Florids softball vs. Missouri starting lineups
Missouri
Florida
Game 1: Florida softball 5, Missouri 4
It took some sixth inning heroics, and some seventh inning drama, but Florida softball improved to 1-0 in SEC play Saturday with a 5-4 win over Missouri.
The Tigers were hitless the first two innings, but they exploded for two runs in the third and another in the fourth off Keagan Rothrock. This put Florida in a dangerous 3-1 hole vs. arguably the SEC’s worst team.
However, that’s when the Gators clutch hitting was activated. Townsen Thomas tied the ballgame in the bottom half of the frame with a two-run homer. Two innings later, Jocelyn Erickson went yard with a two-out homer after Taylor Shumaker singled.
Rothrock, who slayed Mizzou after those two innings, allowed a leadoff double to begin the seventh. Coach Tim Walton stuck with Rothrock, and while UM scored a run, she held the Tigers in check in a 5-4 victory.
Game two begins Sunday at 4 p.m.
Florida softball vs. Missouri weekend schedule
Game 1: Saturday at 1 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday at 4 p.m.
Game 3: Monday at 7 p.m.
How to watch Florida softball vs. Missouri
Saturday’s game will air on SEC Network+, while Sunday and Monday will be on the SEC Network.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @Ramreporter. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida softball sweeps Missouri behind Keagan Rothrock’s Game 3 excellence
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
