Florida head coach Tim Walton made a point of keeping the Gators’ game plan simple Friday.
“It's important to do a good job of making sure we keep leadoff hitters off base, and we need to get leadoff hitters on,” Walton said.
Florida got just one leadoff hitter on base Friday, and when it did, sophomore designated hitter Olivia Miller cranked a home run over the batter’s eye in center field for a two-run homer.
“Keep it super simple,” Walton said. “It’s important for us to keep that mindset.”
The simplicity that Walton harped on postgame was put into action against Georgia. Four of its seven leadoff batters reached base and at least one hitter got on base each inning.
However, despite the moments of success at the plate, the Gators failed to string together any momentum in consecutive at bats. Florida (47-15) left 13 runners on base and lost to the Georgia Bulldogs (35-22) 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Georgia senior left-handed pitcher Lilli Backes was practically untouchable against Florida’s lineup. Eight Florida batters struck out swinging against Backes. Every punch out she recorded was a swinging strikeout.
In the first inning, the Gators loaded the bases off of a leadoff single and two walks. Then, Backes tossed back-to-back strikeouts against Mia Williams and Ava Brown to end the inning.
In the fourth, Florida logged two singles to leadoff the inning, and still, the Gators couldn’t capitalize and their next three hitters were retired.
Florida finished the game with an .067 batting average with runners in scoring position.
“We had a chance to win today,” Walton said. “We just didn’t execute a great swinging plan.”
The Gators’ skipper said it was largely due to an exorbitant amount of swings and misses. However, there is a lesson to be learned from most of the at-bats Saturday, he said.
“I don't know if we had more swinging misses all year,” Walton said. “Just go back and watch your pitches. You don't have to evaluate what the swing looked like, you don’t have to evaluate the mechanics. Just go look, did you make a good choice?”
The only Florida batter to have any success at the plate was senior left fielder Korbe Otis. Otis logged two leadoff hits and nearly had a grand slam in the fifth inning. She hit a sacrifice fly that landed a few feet away from completely shifting the momentum of the game.
“Softball is a game of inches,” Otis said. “It just wasn’t there for us today.”
As lackluster as Florida was at the plate, Walton was still content with the product overall, largely due to the Gators’ success in the circle.
“Good softball game,” he said. “Obviously, we lost, but still a good game of good plays on defense, some good pitching. Unfortunately for us, we didn't have any timely hitting today.”
Florida right hander Keagan Rothrock’s start was short lived after she surrendered two solo homers in the first two innings. Florida’s bullpen entered at the start of the second inning and gave up just two hits across the final five innings.
Miller pitched two scoreless frames and senior righty Kara Hammock tossed three shutout innings with one strikeout.
The Gators will resume play in a win-or-go-home matchup against the Bulldogs Sunday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The time is yet to be announced.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is working his fifth semester at The Alligator and returns as the Summer 2025 assistant sports editor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with his cat Pete and researching niche professional athletes (shoutout Jacquizz Rodgers).
