Florida Tops Alabama 6-4, Advancing To Women's College World Series Semifinals

Jocelyn Erickson homered and knocked in four runs and No. 4 seed Florida beat No. 14 Alabama 6-4 on Sunday night to advance to the Women’s College World Series semifinals and eliminate the Crimson Tide.

Korbe Otis and Ariel Kowalewski each added two hits for the Gators (53-14) in a game that started three hours late because of rain and lightning.

Florida advanced to play three-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the semifinals Monday. The Gators will have to beat the Sooners twice to reach the best-of-three championship series, while Oklahoma will need just one win to move on.

Erickson, a catcher, won a national championship with Oklahoma last season before transferring and will have to get through her former team to win another.

Florida pitcher Keagan Rothrock recovered from a rough outing against Texas the night before. The freshman gave up three earned runs on seven hits and now is alone as the nation’s leader with 32 wins.

Kayla Beaver got the start for Alabama and gave up two runs on six hits in four innings. Jocelyn Briski got the loss in relief for the Crimson Tide (39-20).

Alabama opened the scoring in the second. Bailey Dowling got on after a fielding error and she scored on a grounder by Riley Valentine.

Florida tied it in the third when Erickson’s single knocked in Skylar Wallace. Otis scored on a fielder’s choice after getting on with a walk to put the Gators up 2-1.

Alabama tied it at 2 in the third when Marlie Giles singled to score Lauren Johnson.

Reagan Walsh singled and knocked in a run in the fifth to put Florida back in front.

Erickson came up with runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth, and Alabama switched from Briski to Alea Johnson to give her a different look. Erickson took a Johnson pitch over the centerfield wall to make it 6-2.

Alabama hung tough. Kali Heivilin’s RBI single in the sixth made it 6-4. But Rothrock put the Crimson Tide down in order in the seventh.

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