Florida Softball: Gators set up to make SEC Tournament run after Texas A&M sweep

Around this time last year, the vibes around Florida Softball were not the greatest. The Gators were limping their way into the SEC Tournament and subsequent NCAA Tournament with a feeling of how quickly can we get this over with.

Fast forward a year and Florida is starting to feel like the Gators we are used to on the diamond. And following a sweep of Texas A&M, the Gators are locked and loaded heading into the SEC Tournament.

Florida Softball: Postseason Run

The weekend series against the Aggies had all the greatest hits for the 2024 Gator squad during the regular season. Close, low-scoring victory? Check. Blown lead in the 7th only to still recover and win? Check. Run rule beat down? Check.

En route to beating the 8th ranked Aggies three straight times the Gators demonstrated the range the squad has to win games in a variety of way. While pitching has been as lockdown as it was in the front half of the season, Florida got two great starts from Keagan Rothrock to hold Texas A&M to four runs over 13 innings of work between Friday and Sunday's game.

But the other big switch for Florida compared to the start of the season has been their consistency to hit Power 5 pitching. One of the narratives we had pointed out early in the season is that while Florida was mashing the ball against mid-major opponents, they couldn't scratch anything across the plate against teams from power conferences.

That concern has long since been erased and the Gators finished the regular season 3rd in runs per game, behind just Miami (OH) and Oklahoma.

Most important for the Gators is that they keep winning and winning against ranked opponents. 21 of their 43 wins this season are considered a Quad 1 victory and the only "blemish" on their resume is a single Quad 2 defeat (the 7-4 loss to USF).

Heading into the week, Florida was ranked 9th in the polls, and important distinction since the top eight NCAA Tournament seeds have the inside track to host a potential Super Regionals. But considering Florida swept Texas A&M and beat UCLA in a one-off game earlier in the season, it is hard to imagine Florida gets left out of the top eight with a strong showing in the SEC Tournament.

Which brings us to Auburn this week as Florida will entered the conference tournament as the number two seed. Florida will face the winner of the Auburn vs Georgia game, with the winner of that having a potential semifinal matchup against the third seeded Texas A&M.

Tennessee is the top seed and Florida wouldn't face them until the finals. The two teams did not play each other this season.