GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Coming off a disappointing Saturday defeat at the hands of Florida, Kentucky found itself facing elimination.The Wildcats would have to win twice on Sunday to keep their season alive, but Rachel Lawson wasn’t thinking in those terms. All she wanted was for her team to fight and let the chips fall where they may.That’s exactly what she got. It just wasn’t quite enough.”I thought our team played hard today,” Lawson said. “I thought we did a good job putting people on base. We just didn’t get that timely hit when we needed to get that timely hit. So overall we played a lot better today, but when you’re playing a team as good as Florida it always comes down to the little things.”UK’s bid for a second consecutive trip to the Women’s College World Series came up short, as the Cats were clipped by the top-seeded Gators, 1-0. The Cats advanced runners into scoring position in the first two innings and had at least one runner on base in the first four, but couldn’t scratch a run across against Lauren Haeger.The Cats were aggressive on the base paths all afternoon, starting runners in both the third and fourth innings on plays that led to double plays.”The bigger the game, the bigger the risk when you’re the underdog,” Lawson said. “So we decided it was in our best interest–we weren’t doing a good job putting people on base yesterday. We weren’t pushing Florida’s defense. So we made it a conscious effort to try to put base runners on, to try to move them, to try to be more aggressive to put their defense in motion because they’re such an outstanding defense. “So overall I think that was a good decision. We just didn’t come up with the timely hit that we needed when we were putting people in motion.”Kentucky ace Kelsey Nunley nearly went pitch for pitch with the national player of the year finalist, holding the Gators to one run on five hits. “I thought Kelsey was great on the mound,” Lawson said. “Florida’s an outstanding hitting team and to be able to shut them down to just one run is a big deal, especially this time of year. They’re a very good team and they know how to get to the World Series. To be able to do that says a lot about Kelsey.”Florida plated its lone run in the fourth inning with three singles, the last of the infield variety with two outs by Justine McLean. After the first inning of game one when the Gators scored four times, Nunley tossed 10.2 innings and allowed only that run.”Just tried to keep them off balance,” Nunley said. “They’re a really good hitting team so that’s what you try to do. I tried to move with the batter instead of just pitching with the plate. That’s what I focused on today.”Only a junior, many more such performances figure to be in story for Nunley, already the winningest pitcher in program history. She will lead a seven-member senior class when UK takes the field in 2016, “I’d like to think we’re built for every year, but yes,” Lawson said. “We have great pitching. We only graduated two players.”However, the two graduates — Griffin Joiner and Kara Lawson — will be big losses. That’s especially true of Joiner, a four-year starter at catcher and the heart and soul of this Kentucky team. Talking about the two caused Lawson to have to fight back tears in her postgame press conference, but she was also quick to point out the Cats will have to move on.”With that said, we are going to be very good,” Lawson said. “We are smart. We know how to play the game. We have a lot of people returning, we have outstanding recruits coming in and we will be back.”Considering this trip to Super Regionals was the fourth in five years for Kentucky, it’s no stretch of the imagination to say the Cats will be back. Next time, however, Lawson wants it to be as the hosts.”I hope what my team takes from this is we’ve got to do all the little things right in the offseason, during the season so we can also be a national seed,” Lawson said. “Not just a national seed one time. That we can be a national seed every single time we come out to play.”