Florida Softball had a massive series win over the weekend over No. 4 Texas A&M. The Gators were without Keagan Rothrock for the series but still won two out of three games on the road in College Station.
The series win sets up a bust week where the Gators will face UCF on Tuesday before a weekend series against Texas.
Power Runs Deep
The headliner all year has at the plate has been Taylor Shumaker, and she had a solo shot in game one to up her home run total on the year to 13, but the rest of the Gator lineup was raking all weekend long.
Florida would hit seven runs over the weekend, none of which were from Shumaker. Reagan Walsh, Mia Williams, and Jocelyn Erickson all had two home runs over the weekend and all three of them have at least eight home runs on the season.
Pitching Runs Deep
The massive subplot for Florida this weekend was not having Keagan Rothrock. She hasn't pitched since February 22, and she didn't even travel with the team this weekend due to injury.
In her place, Katelyn Oxley held the fort in games one and three, while Ava Brown got the start in game two. We also saw Kara Hammock come out of the bullpen in game three for the win.
For Oxley, in particular, she was thrown straight into the fire this weekend. The freshman from Bartow had previous starts against New Mexico State, FGCU, and Troy, but wasn't supposed to be a mainstay pitcher for Florida in 2025.
She went a combined 10.2 innings this weekend with just four earned runs.
Fielding Has Its Highs And Lows
A couple of weeks ago, we noted Florida was committing errors at a rate higher than they would like. They have cleaned that up a bit, but some demons still persisted this weekend.
In game one, the Gators lost on a wild walk-off play. With two outs in the 7th, Texas A&M singled into right field and the runner on first tried to advance to third. The throw was late, then Florida tried to get an out at second but that throw got away and the runner on third made it home ahead of the play at the plate.
In game two in the first inning, Florida should have had a force out at home, but an errant throw allowed the run to score.
Those moments juxtapose the play in the outfield, especially by Kendra Falby. She made headlines all over when she robbed Texas A&M of a grand slam in game one. Then, in the 7th inning of game three, she had a diving grab that helped seal the win.