ATHENS, Ga. – Behind a seventh-inning two-out two-run rally, the No. 6/8 Florida softball team (47-7, 17-5 SEC) secured the series-opening win over No. 17/14 Georgia (34-17, 10-12 SEC) on Thursday evening at Jack Turner Softball Stadium.

All five of Florida’s five runs came with two outs, including a pair of home runs from Townsen Thomas and Ava Brown in the top of the fourth and back-to-back RBIs from Jocelyn Erickson and Kendall Grover in the top of the seventh.

Georgia got on the board first in the bottom of the third with a solo home run.

The Gators responded with Thomas and Browns’ home runs to give them a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth.

 Georgia hit a two-run equalizer over the center field wall to make it 3-all in the home side of the fourth,

In the seventh inning, Erickson worked a full-count RBI double, her 14th of the year, to drive in Gabi Comia.

In the next at-bat, Kendall Grover drove in Erickson with an RBI single to left field, putting the Gators up 5-2.

Despite a pair of Bulldog singles in the bottom of the seventh, Florida was able to close out the win and strand runners on first and second.

Keagan Rothrock (26-5) improved to 13-3 in Southeastern Conference play, tossing her 16th complete game, allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

NOTABLES:


Head coach Tim Walton earned his 1,200th win as a head coach. He is the 18th coach in NCAA Division 1 history to reach the milestone and is the 7th active coach with 1,200 or more wins
Ava Brown recorded her second-straight multi-hit game. She now has three multi-hit and 10 multi-RBI games this season

Brown has hit three home runs over the past seven games and has eight on the season
Of Brown’s eight home runs, five have been multi-run home runs


Brown reached in all three of her plate appearances, recording a home run, a single and drawing a walk
Townsen Thomas hit her fifth home run of the season and her second in the last three games

Thomas has had multi-hit games in three of her last four outings, bringing her season total to 20. She also extended her hitting streak to 13 games
Of her five home runs, three have been in SEC play


The Gators are 24-1 on the season and 7-0 in SEC play when they hit two or more home runs in a game

UP NEXT:
Florida will look to clinch the series at 6 p.m. on Friday evening on the SEC Network+.

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