Gators softball knocked out of Women’s College World Series

OKLAHOMA CITY — Alannah Leach had two hits and knocked in four runs as Tennessee rolled past Florida 11-3 in a Women’s College World Series elimination game Friday night.

Tennessee (46-16) pounded out 12 hits in the matchup between two top SEC teams.

The seventh-seeded Volunteers advanced to play the loser of Saturday’s Texas Tech vs. UCLA game in an elimination game Sunday. Third-seeded Florida (48-17) was knocked out in two games, including Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Texas.

Tennessee, which lost its opener to Oklahoma on a walk-off homer by Ella Parker on Thursday, took out its frustration on Florida, scoring seven runs on seven hits in the first inning en route to an 11-3 victory.

Alannah Leach’s twin sister, Gabby Leach, got it started with a triple, and she scored on a single by Taylor Pannell. A double by Alannah Leach knocked in three runs.

The Gators did not play ace Keagan Rothrock.

“We’ve been fighting a blister with Keagan for a while and that just came apart yesterday,” Gators coach Tim Walton said. “Keagan would have started today. It just didn’t make sense for us to throw her out there and try to go through however many games in a row [battling the blister]. We had a long road to go, and you know, you blow her out in the first inning of the game, and then what? The decision was really to just try to go as much as we can with everybody else, given the circumstance.”

All four batters Florida starter Kara Hammock faced scored, and she was pulled without registering an out.

Tennessee struck again in the second when back-to-back solo shots by Sophia Nugent and McKenna Gibson pushed the lead to 9-0 and chased reliever Ava Brown.

The Volunteers’ early lead allowed them to rest ace Karlyn Pickens. She threw one hitless inning with two strikeouts. Erin Nuwer got the win in two innings of relief.

Florida’s first hit of the game was a two-run homer by Reagan Walsh in the fourth.

Korbe Otis followed with a solo shot to make it 10-3.