OKLAHOMA CITY — Florida’s Hannah Rogers pitched four perfect innings in the 5-0 win over Alabama to start the Women’s College World Series championship series.
Rogers retired 20 batters in order, as senior infielder Kaila Hunt and sophomore center fielder Haylie McCleney’s singles were erased by double plays in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively.
“I thought Hannah was terrific tonight,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “Probably one of the best games she’s pitched against us, but I think it’s just a continuation of her postseason. You know, there’s three things that you need to win a high-caliber softball game: great starting pitching, great team defense, and you need to get the timely hits. They were 3-for-3, and we were 0-for-3, and I think that’s the story of the game.”
Rogers (30-8) allowed four hits, three of which came in the bottom of the seventh inning. She struck out three and didn’t walk a single batter, taking the first game of the WCWS championship series.
Florida took an early lead in the top of the third off a solo home run from Aubree Munro.
In the fifth, the Gators plated two with two outs following three consecutive hits. With two outs, Kirsti Merritt doubled to the center field wall, scoring Kelsey Stewart from first. Then, Stephanie Tofft singled her in. Lauren Haeger singled in the next at-bat for Florida’s fourth consecutive hit. Justine McClean grounded out to end the threat.
The Gators extended their lead in the top of the seventh with a lead-off single followed by an error which left Stewart and Merritt on the corners. Merritt stole second. Tofft hit a sac fly to left field, and Stewart scored. In the next at-bat, Haeger doubled in Merritt.
After Florida scored twice in the seventh, senior right-hander Jaclyn Traina was pulled in favor of junior right-hander Leslie Jury who pitched the final two outs. She faced three batters, retiring the first, hitting the second and retiring the third.
Traina (26-4) recorded the loss, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing eight hits. She walked three and struck out six. Four of Florida’s five runs were earned.
“I mean, they’re a great team, and just like Murph said we have to have those three, you know, great timely hitting, pitching and defense,” Traina said. “So tomorrow we’re just going to make quicker adjustments and just work from there.”
Alabama tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh. McCleney hit a leadoff single, but sophomore left fielder Kallie Case grounded into a double play. Down to its final out, Alabama strung together two back-to-back singles by junior right fielder Jadyn Spencer and Hunt. The comeback was not to be as senior catcher Molly Fichtner grounded out to end the game.
“I think she was just in the zone tonight. I mean, she was spotting the ball really well. She got ahead of us. I mean, that’s just Hannah Rogers being Hannah Rogers,” McCleney said. “I think that tomorrow we’ll make quicker adjustments. We’ve got to have a short-term memory tonight.”
Hunt went 2-for-3 on the night. McCleney and Spencer both went 1-for-3 after both were retired in their first two at bats.
“[Rogers] was attacking the strike zone so my approach was to be aggressive, especially early in the count, but she did throw me balls, but I think my approach was just to try to see it up because that’s what you have to do against her,” Hunt said. “She pitched a great game against us, but I thought I had good at bats against her.”
Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
