{"id":273661,"date":"2026-05-16T18:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273661\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T18:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:53:13","slug":"uf-routs-georgia-tech-behind-rothrock-cahalan-in-ncaa-regional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273661\/","title":{"rendered":"UF routs Georgia Tech behind Rothrock, Cahalan in NCAA regional"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE \u2014 No. 6 Florida leaned on pitcher Keegan Rothrock\u2019s arm and shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan\u2019s bat and glove to deliver another mercy-rule win<\/a> during the NCAA\u2019s Gainesville Regional.<\/p>\n

The Gators defeated Georgia Tech 8-0 on Saturday, extending their streak to seven straight wins ending before seven innings with a margin of at least eight runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s always good when you can do that,\u201d coach Tim Walton<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to continue to maintain, you know, the confidence and get off our feet as early as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothrock delivered her first complete-game shutout since throwing a no-hitter in a 5-0 win April 10 at South Carolina. She allowed four hits and one walk while striking out four.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeegan did a nice job of attacking our hitters and keeping us off balance,\u201d Yellow Jackets coach Aileen Morales said.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida pitcher Keegan Rothrock threw a complete-game shutout in the Gators’ 8-0 mercy-rule win in five innings against Georgia Tech on Saturday in the NCAA softball regional in Gainesville. (Hannah White\/UF’s University Athletics Association)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech (31-28) cycled through three pitchers while allowing Florida (50-10) six hits and nine walks.<\/p>\n

After sophomore slugger Taylor Shumaker followed her five-RBI day Friday against Florida A&M<\/a> with a hitless outing, Cahalan supplied the offense. She went 2-for-3 and broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the third inning.<\/p>\n

Cahalan drove a 2-2 pitch from Georgia Tech starter Syndie Watts over the right-center field fence to score Ava Brown and Townsen Thomas.<\/p>\n

Cahalan\u2019s 16th home run of of the season \u2014 and first in NCAA Tournament play \u2014 came after an 11-pitch at-bat in which she fouled off seven pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot for me; I swing at the first pitch a lot,\u201d Cahalan said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve been working with patience, working on my discipline. So I was very thankful that I could take it that deep and find (my pitch) at the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walton, in his 21st season at Florida, called it \u201cas good of an at-bat as you\u2019ll see of anybody in any moment of any game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two batters later, Florida rightfielder Cassidy McLellan tripled to score Kendall Grover after she had drawn a walk.\u00a0Another walk, this time by Ella Wesolowski, ended Watts\u2019 day.<\/p>\n

With the cushion, Rothrock retired three straight batters to end the inning, capped by a strikeout of Emma Tucker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt lets you play free and throw good pitches and get the defense outs,\u201d Rothrock said. \u201cWe can get back into the dugout and they can hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gators continued to build their advantage in the top of the fourth against reliever Makayla Coffield. Brown doubled home Jocelyn Erickson, and Thomas followed with an RBI single to make it 6-0.<\/p>\n

A single by Cahalan advanced Thomas to third before she stole home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to try to figure out a way to score as many runs as we can,\u201d Walton said.<\/p>\n

Georgia Tech\u2019s final pitching change, bringing in Kenley Hilleary, did little to stem Florida\u2019s assault. The Gators loaded the bases on three walks before McLellan drew a four-pitch walk to force in the final run.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan connects on a 3-2 pitch for a three-run homer to give the Gators a 3-0 lead en route to a 8-0 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday in the NCAA Regional at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville. (Hannah White\/UF’s University Athletics Association)<\/p>\n

The Yellow Jackets threatened early before the Gators seized control.<\/p>\n

Rothrock opened the first inning by hitting Addison Leschber and walking Reese Hunter. But Cahalan turned a line drive from Paige Vukadinovich into a double play. Consecutive singles by Madi Duffel and Emma Simon loaded the bases before Regan Wall grounded out to end the threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a turning point,\u201d Walton said. \u201cIt was a big play, especially with the next kid getting hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win improved Florida to 35-1 in home regional games since 2012. The Gators advanced to Sunday\u2019s regional final at noon and could face Georgia Tech again in the double-elimination tournament.<\/p>\n

The winner between Texas State-FAMU was set to face the Yellow Jackets later Saturday for a spot in Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE \u2014 No. 6 Florida leaned on pitcher Keegan Rothrock\u2019s arm and shortstop Kenleigh Cahalan\u2019s bat and glove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,28,2530,30,29,2496,114,76046,110],"class_list":["post-273661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-florida-gators","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gainesville","tag-latest-headlines","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}