LAND O'LAKES — Callie Turner did not have her usual, insane strikeout ratio stuff, settling for "only" seven on Tuesday night.
It bothered the Land O'Lakes sophomore not one bit.
"It was a win," Turner summarized — and also, it was a one-hitter. Two unearned runs in the top of the third were all she allowed, and were immediately answered by her teammates as the Gators defeated visiting Wesley Chapel 4-2 in the Class 6A semifinals.
Ashley Smith drove in three runs, the biggies coming on a triple to break the 2-all tie in the bottom of the third.
Land O'Lakes (26-3), seeking a return trip to the state semifinals, hosts Springstead on Friday with a state berth up for grabs.
Less than two weeks removed from a 10-0 punishing off the Wildcats, it was a different situation Tuesday against the region tourney debutantes. Gators coach Mitch Wilkins suspected it would be.
"I'm always nervous when we go up against a good team like that," he said. "They'd seen us three times, and they were really well prepared."
Chapel (19-7) did beat Land O'Lakes 2-0 a month ago, getting a complete-game shutout from freshman Jordan Almasy. But the Gators jumped up 2-0 in the first inning Tuesday when Shelby Westbrook and Jessie McCallister started off with infield hits, moving over on Tia Williams' long sac fly. A passed ball plated a run and Smith's groundball couldn't quite be turned for a double play.
The Wildcats' lone hit, Dana Mumaw's solid leadoff single, turned into more when Turner had trouble fielding Logan Coward's grounder and Morgan Herndon's flyball to center was thrown away, making it 2-1. Neely Peterson, a sophomore committed to Colorado State, supplied the Wildcats' only RBI with a flyball that tied it up.
But the Gators took control with three straight two-out hits, first from Williams, then Brianna Lindner (who also drew two walks) and finally Smith's blast to the rightfield wall.
"I knew we'd bounce back," said Turner, who set down the next seven batters after Chapel had tied it. She improved to 14-2, actually lowered what was a 0.20 ERA, even if her strikeout pace — which was at a crazy 212 in 104 innings coming in — took a hit.
She was looking forward to dueling with Springstead's Kama Woodall in Friday's region final. The teams split 1-0 results last year, with Land O'Lakes' coming in the playoffs.
"It looks like Springstead's starting to hit the ball," Wilkins said. "It should be a pretty good game. They'll be ready, but so will we."