After Florida won two out of three against Oklahoma to close out the regular season, it felt like a near lock for the Gators to be a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament and be in line to host a potential Super Regional round. Then Florida was upset in the 2nd round of the SEC Tournament and the seed of doubt crept back in.
However, bolstered by having the 2nd best RPI and the hardest strength of schedule in the country, Florida was seeded 3rd nationally in the NCAA Softball Tournament.
Florida Gators Host Gainesville Regional
The Gators will host the Regional round this weekend with Florida Atlantic (44-10), Mercer (38-24) and Georgia Tech (27-21) coming to town. The Gators will open with Mercer and the winner will take on the winner of FAU and Georgia Tech.
The format, as always, is double elimination.
Should Florida advance out of the Gainesville Regional, they would host a Super Regional round against the winner of the Durham Regional. That region is led by 14th overall seed Duke, who Florida did play earlier this year, and is split two games against.
This is the highest national seed the Gators have had since 2018.
Lacrosse prevails in double OT over Stanford
The No. 4 ranked lacrosse team had a thriller in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Stanford on Sunday.
Florida had an 8-6 lead in the third quarter before Stanford clamped down defensively and went on a 3-0 run to close out the quarter and head into the 4th with a 9-8 lead of their own.
After some adjustments, it looked like Florida was going to put the game away in the 4th after a 4-0 run, with three of the four goals coming from Kaitlyn Davies.
Up 12-9, Florida had a free position attempt with 11 minutes left, but opted to pass out of it and that's when Stanford regained control to claw back to 12-12 with 4:41 left.
Neither team scored in the rest of the regulation.
In overtime, Stanford drew control first, but the Gators made a huge defensive stand. Florida didn't score either, and the game went to 2OT.
Florida drew control, and on an awkward play, Davies got inside and fired a shot that was initially saved. But the ball trickled back towards the goal, and the ref determined the ball crossed over the goal line before Stanford could pull it back. The play was reviewed but was upheld for a dramatic 13-12 2OT victory.
Florida will now host Duke on 5/15 at 2:30 PM with a berth in the Final Four on the line.
Two more Gators sign NFL contracts
Linebacker Shemar James and defensive back Trikweze Bridges have both signed four-year contracts with the respective teams that drafted them.
Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports that the deal James signed is worth over $4.6 million total. Bridges is believed to have signed a deal that is similar in value.
James was drafted in the 5th round by the Dallas Cowboys, while Bridges went in the 7th round to the Los Angeles Chargers.