College Softball World Series 2015: Michigan vs. Florida Game 2 Score and Recap

There will be a third and decisive game Wednesday at the 2015 Women's College World Series, guaranteed by Michigan's 1-0 victory over defending champions Florida in Game 2 of a national title series that will be going the distance.   

Wolverines pitcher Haylie Wagner's stuff couldn't be touched all game. She threw a complete-game shutout on only six hits, coming just after three scoreless relief innings in Game 1 the night before.

The Gators expected to dominate the mound upon saving star ace Lauren Haeger for Tuesday's game, but it didn't quite work out that way. Michigan jumped on her in the first inning, capped off by Kelsey Susalla's RBI single. The Gators bats couldn't strike back, as NCAA Softball shows:

As the final score indicates, Tuesday produced a pitcher's duel between two of the nation's best arms. Haeger and Wagner were the only two pitchers to grace the mound all game and combined to let up just 10 hits in a game not fit for offensive-minded viewers.

After she took the ball in Game 1 with Michigan down 3-0, Wagner has revitalized the Michigan title hopes practically by herself, as softball reporter Justin McLeod noted:

Michigan's victory in the must-win situation means a Wednesday rubber match will decide the national title, but it also helped slay a season-long issue for the Wolverines. It marked their first victory against Florida in four tries, as told by ESPN Stats & Info:

Coming off a Game 1 Monday in which head coach Carol Hutchins called her team out for starting lethargically, per the ESPN broadcast, the Wolverines weren't about to let history repeat itself with their season on the line.

Michigan began the game in attack mode, quickly retiring Florida's batters before attacking on the first at-bat. Leadoff hitter Sierra Lawrence started things out with a single, setting up Susalla three batters later for a bloop RBI single that put Michigan in front for good.

Alonzo Adams/Associated Press

Although the bats heated up in the opening inning, Haeger quickly cooled them back down. She allowed as many hits in her final five innings of work—two—as she did in that fateful opening frame.

Haeger's work on the mound gave Florida plenty of opportunities to get back in it. With nine outs left to make a run, the Gators led off the fifth inning with a single and got pinch runner Chelsea Herndon on base with no outs. 

Justine McLean's line drive to left-center appeared to continue the Florida rally before it was snared for a double play, as NCAA Softball shows:

With an opportunity to add to their lead, the Wolverines got in scoring position off Lawrence's fifth-inning double—her second hit of the game. She was tagged out at third base later to end the inning, but Hutchins objected furiously that the Gators' third baseman had obstructed the basepath.

She may have had a case, as softball coach Matt Lisle captured:

Scott Bell of the Dallas Morning News felt for the umpire on the receiving end of Hutchins' anger:

The Gators looked to take advantage of that missed call, with their power hitters coming to the plate in the top of the sixth. It proved to be Florida's last true surge to getting back in it, and Haeger—4-for-5 at that point in the series with a home run and three RBI—stepped to the plate with a runner on first.

When Wagner got her fellow pitcher to pop out, it all but ended Florida's shot, as the Detroit Free Press' Mark Snyder noted:

Wagner didn't have to see many batters at all from that point on. The Gators had one last shot to tie the game in the top of the seventh, but Wagner threw a three-up, three-down inning to clinch the victory.

As strong as Wagner looked during the game, she seemed to kick it up a gear in the seventh—setting up quite the Game 3, as GatorZone.com's Scott Carter observed:

Florida appeared to be in a favorable position entering Tuesday, with its ace pitcher fresh and ready to throw a complete-game shutout to clinch the program's second straight national title. That didn't materialize, and now history is working against the Gators.

In the 10-year history of the three-game championship series, the winner of Game 2 has taken the national title every year—whether it be from sweeping it in Game 2 or taking both Games 2 and 3. 

If the Gators aspire to become the first team in Women's College World Series history to lose Game 2 and still win the title, they'll likely have to figure out a way to get some runs past Wagner. She's pitched 20 scoreless innings and counting in Oklahoma City and appears to have the Gators' number.