It took nearly five and a half hours, but UF survived Nebraska in 15 innings Saturday night to preserve its season.
The No. 2 seed Gators (58-8) scored two runs in the top of the 15th on a Taylore Fuller grounder to knock off the 14th-seeded Cornhuskers (45-16) 9-8 in their longest game in school history and the fourth longest in Women’s College World Series history.
“I know my whole life I wanted this moment so bad,” sophomore Lauren Haeger said.
UF will have less than 13 hours to regroup, as it will face fourth-seeded Texas (50-9) in an elimination game on Sunday at 1 in Oklahoma City.
“We’ll be fine,” Haeger said. “If we can go through this, we can go through anything.”
The Gators pieced together a rally in the 15th when Haeger doubled down the left-field line. Jessica Damico then singled to advance Haeger to third, putting runners on the corners. Fuller’s grounder then rolled past Nebraska shortstop Alicia Armstrong to score Haeger and Damico for a 9-7 advantage. The freshman catcher tried to stretch the play but was thrown out at third.
Armstrong doubled to lead off the bottom of the 15th and advanced to third on a Mattie Fowler groundout. Jordan Bettiol then grounded out to second to drive in Armstrong and cut Florida’s advantage to one run with two outs. Tatum Edwards then followed with a walk.
In the next at-bat, Nebraska’s Gabby Banda singled to Damico, who tossed the ball to Tofft. She then tagged out Edwards at third, sending the Gators into celebration as they dashed out of the dugout.
Coming off a disappointing showing Thursday in a 9-2 loss to Tennessee, UF fell behind 2-0 to Nebraska in the fourth. The Gators plated six runs in the fifth inning and held a 6-2 lead, but Nebraska second baseman Hailey Decker responded with a homer to left field to cut UF’s lead to 6-3.
After the Cornhuskers loaded the bases in the seventh, Taylor Edwards singled up the middle to cut UF’s lead to 6-4. Then, Brooke Thomason flied out to centerfield as Edwards advanced two bases.
Center fielder Kirsti Merritt threw to catcher Aubree Munro, but Banda reached home in time.
Munro then threw to Kelsey Stewart, who looked to Stephanie Tofft. The junior third baseman dashed to tag out Tatum Edwards – who sprinted to home base – but missed her on the dive. The Nebraska junior then scored to even the game at 6.
Briana Little lifted the Gators to a 7-6 lead in the 10th with a solo homer – breaking a UF streak of 186 at-bats without a home run. But to lead off the bottom, Taylor Edwards homered to left field to even the score.
Junior right-hander Hannah Rogers pitched the first seven innings Saturday before being switched for Haeger.
During her seven innings of service, Haeger struck out four batters and allowed only three hits on 111 pitches. Rogers returned to pitch the final inning and finished tossing 126.
Haeger said after Saturday's game that she could not feel her arm.
If the Gators go on to defeat the Longhorns on Sunday, they would face the Volunteers in a rematch Sunday night at 7.
A television broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Landon Watnick at lwatnick@alligator.org.
Junior Briana Little is greeted at home after hitting a home run in the 10th inning during Florida's 9-8 win against Nebraska in the Women's College World Series on Saturday night in Oklahoma City.
