The Florida softball team isn’t making much of its loss to Auburn.
After the Gators (47-9, 21-7 Southeastern Conference) were eliminated by the Tigers (39-17, 15-13 SEC) in the first round of the SEC Tournament, coach Tim Walton stressed it was time to move forward.
“We took a day off — just really trying to let it go,” he said. “We’ve lost games before and turned the page and won a million games in a row.”
According to Walton, he has seen nothing in the past 20 games that makes the Auburn loss a legitimate concern going into the NCAA Tournament on Friday. Sunday, UF was named a No. 4 seed and will host Bethune-Cookman.
Walton said the Gators simply played uncharacteristically on Thursday.
Third baseman Kasey Fagan committed a first-inning error on a ground ball that went through her legs — her first botched play in 22 games. Hannah Rogers gave up three runs (two unearned) for the first time since a 5-0 loss to Alabama on April 22. Stephanie Brombacher was pulled after just one inning — something Walton said would never happen in a traditional three-game series.
And then there were the slumping bats. The usually potent Nos. 1-5 slots in Florida’s lineup went 2 for 15 and struck out four times against Auburn.
“I’d like to see our offense get better,” Walton said. “I think that’s the one thing we haven’t had over the last three weeks.”
Florida's coach did say team spirit was at an all-time high Thursday — proof that sometimes what’s going on in the dugout doesn’t really matter.
“Overall, [losing to the Tigers] will help us,” he said. “It will keep us focused. We had a hard practice yesterday. We’ll have another hard practice today.”
