![Florida head coach Tim Walton talks to the infield during game 3 of the super regional of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, May 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_2544,h_1431/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01ksdvth6c844yfncabe.jpg "Florida head coach Tim Walton talks to the infield during game 3 of the super regional of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, May 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
If prior to the start of Super Regionals, someone had said that Florida would score no fewer than seven runs in any of the individual games, it would have seemingly been a safe bet to wager a large amount of your life savings that the Gators were going to wind up at the WCWS.
It’s a good thing we here at Hail Florida Hail don’t bet big money.
The unfortunate truth is that an array of self-inflicted wounds all throughout the weekend, a lack of pitching depth that was set in motion back in February, and a certain someone leaving Gainesville for Lubbock last June all contributed to Florida getting bounced from Super Regionals against Texas Tech after falling in a winner-take-all game three.
Florida has its season end in Super Regionals
The concern for Florida heading into game three was just how much gas in the tank Keagan Rothrock was going to have. She shut down Texas Tech in game two, but with the Red Raiders seeing her for the third straight day, they jumped all over her.
Rothrock opened the game by hitting Mia Williams. It’s the fifth time Williams had been hit this series. In case you didn’t know, Williams transferred away from Florida to Texas Tech in the offseason.
ESPN may have talked about that once or twice or 52 times.
To be fair, we had stated prior to the series that Williams would get juxtoposed with current Gator 2B Gabi Comia, and unfortunately, an error from Comia led to an unearned run in the 1st inning as part of a three-run inning as a whole.
The bottom of the 1st, however, was symbolic of why this series was so frustrating as Florida fought back and exploded for a four-run inning of its own. Kenleigh Cahalan smacked a two-run home run to give Florida a 4-3 lead.
Weather delay
Gainesville being Gainesville in May, things were delayed for over two hours due to lightning. That break enabled everyone on X to argue over whether Florida was beaning Williams on purpose or whether she was leaning into the pitches.
Whatever the case, Rothrock just had nothing left when play resumed.
Williams hit a two-run home run to take the lead, and Texas Tech tacked on another two-run home run to take a 7-4 lead.
Once again, the Gators fought back, and Ava Brown smacked a three-run home run to tie things back at 7-7. It was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that both teams scored at least seven runs within the first two innings.
But Rothrock was lifted after giving up another solo shot, and the ensuing rest of the third inning was emblematic of why Florida ultimately lost this series.
Defense matters
Leah Stevens came in and looked like she was going to escape the inning with things at 8-7. But just like her meltdown in game one, Calahan had another brutal error that kept the inning going. The next batter up smacked a three-run shot to make things 11-7.
Texas Tech was able to mix and match its pitching to shut things down, and Florida had one last brutal error left in them when Comia couldn’t get a clean transfer to get out of the 5th inning. Three unearned runs later, and Florida’s fate was sealed in run-rule fashion.
To the victor go the spoils
Losing to Texas Tech isn’t that shocking, and anyone paying attention knew this was going to be a tough series. Again, the frustrating part is that Florida got far more offense than most would have dreamed of against the pitching staff from Texas Tech, and it wasn’t even close to being enough.
But as we had written after the SEC Tournament, the warning signs of Florida’s pitching meltdown were flashing hard. One has to wonder whether Ava Brown could have stayed healthy as a pitcher; if so, things might have been different.
One also has to wonder if Tim Walton had stuck with Rothrock in game one, rather than resorting to the bullpen, which he knew was shaky, if things could have been different. While we are at it, did Walton get ejected on purpose so he didn’t have to shake the hand of Williams after the game? The fact that Florida as a whole walked off the field rather than shake hands was not a good look for the Gators.
The end result is that Florida has had its season end short of Oklahoma City, and the standard at Florida is Oklahoma City or bust.
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