OKLAHOMA CITY — Annie Lockwood's two-out, hard line drive bounced off the glove of Kasey Fagan, against her chest and toward an erupting Arizona State dugout. Katelyn Boyd touched home plate to give Arizona State a 6-5 victory and thrust Florida (53-11) to the brink of elimination at the Women‘s College World Series.
"I honestly just wanted to get a hit," Lockwood said. "But [Fagan] kind of hit it off her glove and that helped out a little bit."
What started as an apparent blowout for the Sun Devils (57-6) became a devastating and dramatic loss for the Gators.
It was a game that saw nearly everything.
Arizona State opened the contest in complete control. Freshman phenom Dallas Escobedo struck out seven UF batters before surrendering her first hit in the third inning.
With their hard-throwing ace dealing, the Sun Devils were able to build a 4-0 lead through four innings off of two RBI singles, a Mandy Urfer knock and a careless error by Florida starter Stephanie Brombacher — who only lasted one inning, giving up six hits and three runs.
"I made the wrong decision," Florida's senior righty said. "I cost my team the game."
But as mightily as the Gators initially struggled against Escobedo, their strength all year has been making adjustments against pitchers later in games. That's exactly what happened in a five-run fourth that seemed to be a turning point in the game for Florida.
After a Megan Bush walk, Tiffany DeFelice hit a deep drive to left field — a bomb that sparked a walk-off-type celebration from the Gators.
Three batters later, Michelle Moultrie matched DeFelice's efforts with a two-run shot to center. It was Moultrie's fourth long-ball of the season and her second in two days.
"She was throwing a lot of rise balls that took us awhile to get used to," Moultrie said.
Brittany Schutte capped off the wild fourth inning with an RBI single to give Florida an improbable 5-4 lead, but Arizona State was able to answer with an Annie Lockwood solo homer in the bottom of the frame.
Both team's blew scoring chances after the offensively dense inning. Moultrie led off the sixth with a double, only to watch the heart of Florida's order leave her in place.
"Maybe you could have bunted [Moultrie] over in that situation," UF coach Tim Walton said. "I'll be honest with you, I don't think one run was going to be enough. I was playing for two, not for one."
Hannah Rogers struggled with control, walking eight — a career high — but making most of the pitches she needed to make.
Escobedo walked six and threw 174 pitches but was still able to strike out 12 Gators.
"Every pitch has a purpose," Escobedo said. "If it takes me 175 to win a very important ballgame than it does. I'm OK with it."
Florida is now one loss away from being eliminated.
The Gators will play with winner of California and Oklahoma State Saturday at 7 p.m.
