The Florida Gators softball team (43-14) enters its first regional game after an impressive regular season and a short-lived stint in the SEC Tournament.
The Gators are hosting their 19th regional tournament round, which will include Florida Atlantic, Georgia Tech and Mercer. Here’s a look at the teams competing in the Gainesville regional and how UF stacks up.
Mercer Bears
The Bears (38-24, 11-9 SoCon) earned an automatic bid after claiming the Southern Conference Championship. Mercer trailed 5-0 and defeated the Chattanooga Mocs 6-5 in its opening game and faced the Mocs in the title game, winning 5-2.
Mercer wrapped up its regular season with five players earning 2025 all-SoCon honors.
Freshman first baseman Grace Jones earned All-Freshman team honors slashing .280 with four home runs. Alongside Jones, freshman infielder Hannah Rivers batted .322 with two home runs, while infielder Tori Hedgecock hit .359 while adding 13 home runs. Also, redshirt junior outfielder Hallie Langford hit .341 with three home runs and junior catcher Sietske Drijvers batted .291 while adding five home runs.
Mercer’s biggest win of the season came against No. 16 Georgia 5-2.
Florida Atlantic Owls
The Owls (44-10, 23-4 AAC) had an impressive season, taking home their second straight American Athletic Conference regular season title.
The Owls racked up two big wins early in the season against Ole Miss and Clemson. As a team, FAU led the AAC in batting average (.340), runs (353), hits (484), doubles (91), RBI (317), ERA (2.39), shutouts (10), strikeouts (301) and batting average allowed (.200).
The Owls have 10 players who made the All-AAC teams. Leading the way is junior pitcher Autumn Courtney, who was unanimously voted the AAC Pitcher of the Year. She posted a 1.89 ERA with a 23-2 record. Her 23 wins rank fourth in the nation.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
The Yellow Jackets (27-22, 10-11 ACC) finished the regular season with two players earning all-ACC postseason honors: freshman outfielder Alyssa Willer and freshman infielder Gracyn Tucker.
Tech limps into the tournament winning just one out of its last seven games. Their biggest win came against No. 15 Oklahoma State 6-4 in a late March matchup.
Checking in on the Gators
Florida head coach Tim Walton touched on the mood of the locker room and what their past week has been like.
“I think the past week's been really hard I pushed them pretty hard this week, intentionally,” Walton said.
Walton also touched on what separates Florida from the rest of the teams.
“I've never overlooked an opponent in the midweek, the first round of an NCAA tournament,” Walton said. “The biggest key for us is just really staying focused on the task at hand, but being prepared for any and all things possible.”
The Gators face Mercer Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Contact Casey Godwin Godcasey11@gmail.com. Follow him on X @Godcasey5UF.
