Florida Gators Softball Series Wrap-Up: Long flight home after let down

When UCLA mercy ruled Florida, it exposed the lack of pitching depth the squad has after Elizabeth Hightower. But then Hightower got lit up on Saturday at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic and the level of confidence for Florida Gators softball has dropped exponentially.

It’s only one weekend, and there are a number of excuses that can be made, but if Florida intends to be a serious contender to make it back to the Women’s College World Series it will need to go back to the drawing board during a long flight home from southern California.

Florida Gators Softball: Oregon Trail

We are covered on the site the meltdown against UCLA and there is no need to revisit that, so let’s highlight the one positive game the squad had during the four game invite.

On Friday the Gators took on UC Riverside and it looked like Florida had their swagger back. Five runs in the first inning, which included a two run RBI from Avery Golez, put the game out of reach from the get go. Reagan Walsh ended the game 3-3, Charla Echols was 1-2 with two walks, and Hightower pitched seven shutout innings to give Florida Gators softball an easy 7-0 win.

https://twitter.com/GatorsSB/status/1629256635242754048?s=20

Saturday featured 22nd ranked Oregon and an opportunity for Florida to prove that UCLA was just a fluke. The Gators had Hightower pitching again and through her first 27 innings this season she had yet to allow an earned run.

She was yanked in the 5th inning after giving up five runs on six hits and two walks. And like the UCLA game, the offense that has scored at will all season stopped scoring.

Or hitting at all.

A 6th inning single from Kendra Falby was the only thing that saved Florida from a no-hitter as Oregon cruised to an 8-0 victory.

Then there was the final game against Cal State Fullerton. The Titans are a respectable squad that went 37-22 last season with an appearance in the NCAA tournament (which included a win over LSU). This year Cal State is 9-6.

But this was the 3rd ranked Florida Gators softball team that should have taken care of business and left California on a high note.

A fielding error to open the third inning by Sam Roe ended up hurting Florida as that runner would wind up scoring, followed by a two-out homerun that all led to three unearned runs in the inning.

Florida fought back though, and Roe made up for her error by going 3-4 at the plate. A 6th inning rally, aided by a Cal State Fullerton error, led to Falby hitting the game tying RBI.

The game went to extras and Florida put a run across in the 8th inning when Katie Kistler singled home a run.

With college softball now mimicking baseball and putting a baserunner on 2nd to start the inning in extras, the lead off homerun Cal State hit off Hightower was a two-run shot that solidified a horrific trip out west.

Florida Gators Softball: Now What?

It should be noted that Skylar Wallace didn’t play in California. Wallace confirmed on Twitter that she was sick and unavailable.

Perhaps Wallace would have made the difference against Cal State, but she alone would not have saved Florida against UCLA and Oregon. So we ask after this weekend what should the expectations be for this squad going forward?

Should we treat this team as one of the best in the country and have a standard of Oklahoma City or bust?

Or is that too high and unfair given the make up of the team?

After all, this squad was not dominant last year and was only the 14th national seed in 2022. Florida had to pull off an upset against Virginia Tech during Super Regionals that absolved many of the offseason questions Tim Walton probably would have faced had the Hokies sealed the deal.

We probably won’t get many answers until Florida starts SEC play as to whether this weekend was an anomaly or not.

Either way, it’s a long flight from California to Florida, especially after a set of games like this.