Florida Softball cannot demand respect and then duck the hard moments

We here at Hail Florida Hail have, for the most part, kept a mostly positive tone regarding Florida Softball over the years. The Gators are a constant presence in the WCWS, and there are a ton of programs that would trade places with Florida in a heartbeat.

There is also this feeling that we aren’t allowed to have the same level of critique as football and basketball, and that if something goes south for the Gators, we are supposed to approach it with an angle of “Well, they tried their best.”

But after Sunday’s loss in Super Regionals to Texas Tech, it is perfectly legitimate to ask real questions of Tim Walton and his program following their post-game refusal to do the bare minimum and shake hands with the team that just run-ruled them out of a bid to the WCWS.

Florida gets run-ruled by Texas Tech

We get it, Walton probably felt spurned by Mia Williams transferring to Texas Tech, especially given the backdrop of the Facebook post her mom made after last year’s WCWS elimination. And Walton tried really hard to make it seem like hitting her five times was by coincidence. 

In his post-game, he said:

“I have no idea where that pot was being stirred. There's never been a problem ever. Kids transfer all the time. I don't understand the, and she had a great weekend. We obviously had to go in ... she got a hole in the inside part of the plate. You got to throw there. You throw it over the outer plate and it goes over the fence. 

So nobody was trying to hit her on purpose. I don't understand the drama. That was really uncalled for. I'm very disappointed in that. But that had nothing to do with the softball game. Unfortunately, it became a life of its own. And that part, I don't want that to detract from the game that they played or the game that we played. It makes no sense to me. I don't understand it at all.”

Come on man.

Williams had been hit four times this entire season, and you are mystified why people would be mystified that she was hit five times in the course of three games? Walton could have easily stated something along the lines of “I know why the optics don’t look great and why there are certain narratives out there, but this is why things happened the way they did.”

But to bury one's head in the sand and go with “There's never been a problem ever. Kids transfer all the time,” when that same kid had her mom put you on a very public blast on Facebook before she settled with Texas Tech is the exact opposite of “Never been a problem ever.”

Championship mentality

This brings us to the post-game handshake that didn’t happen.

In one breath, Florida choosing to walk away rather than engage one last time with Texas Tech might have prevented something from going down, given the chipiness of the series, and in the end, it’s all semantics and optics rather than anything of consequence that will matter once Florida takes the field again in 2027.

In the next breath, we are the site that lambasted FSU for getting their feeling hurt after Florida planted a flag at midfield. We are the site that poked fun at Alabama and LSU basketball for rostering players who are no longer eligible for their parents’ health insurance. We are the site that just put Kentucky Baseball on blast for canceling a midweek game to preserve its RPI ahead of the NCAA Tournament.

So if fair is fair, had the roles been reversed in the post-game handshake line and had Texas Tech been the ones to walk away, we 100% would have put the Red Raiders on blast.

So… are we just supposed to pretend that we have to defend Florida Softball at all costs, in a way we wouldn’t for Florida Football or Florida Basketball?

Or…. is the lack of grit to shake someone’s hand, no matter how petty things got, a sign that Florida was bound to choke under pressure? After all, if one is keeping score at home, Florida is 4-10 in the WCWS since 2018 and has made the “Final Four” at the WCWS once since 2018.

Is that harsh to question, again, given the backdrop that countless other programs would trade for that in a heartbeat?

Perhaps.

But as more and more exposure comes softball’s way, and with it come more and more NIL dollars, these are not unfair questions or observations.

And when Walton makes over $500,000 a year, to give the excuse of “Maybe that was for the better” just isn’t good enough unless he would prefer we treat Florida Softball with kid gloves until the end of time.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow