Florida gets run-ruled by Texas Tech<\/p>\n
We get it, Walton probably felt spurned by Mia Williams transferring to Texas Tech, especially given the backdrop of the Facebook post her mom made after last year\u2019s WCWS elimination. And Walton tried really hard to make it seem like hitting her five times was by coincidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his post-game, he said<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea where that pot was being stirred. There’s never been a problem ever. Kids transfer all the time. I don’t understand the, and she had a great weekend. We obviously had to go in … she got a hole in the inside part of the plate. You got to throw there. You throw it over the outer plate and it goes over the fence.\u00a0<\/p>\n So nobody was trying to hit her on purpose. I don’t understand the drama. That was really uncalled for. I’m very disappointed in that. But that had nothing to do with the softball game. Unfortunately, it became a life of its own. And that part, I don’t want that to detract from the game that they played or the game that we played. It makes no sense to me. I don’t understand it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Come on man.<\/p>\n Williams had been hit four times this entire season, and you are mystified why people would be mystified that she was hit five times in the course of three games? Walton could have easily stated something along the lines of \u201cI know why the optics don\u2019t look great and why there are certain narratives out there, but this is why things happened the way they did.\u201d<\/p>\n But to bury one’s head in the sand and go with \u201cThere’s never been a problem ever. Kids transfer all the time,\u201d when that same kid had her mom put you on a very public blast on Facebook before she settled with Texas Tech is the exact opposite of \u201cNever been a problem ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Championship mentality<\/p>\n This brings us to the post-game handshake that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n In one breath, Florida choosing to walk away rather than engage one last time with Texas Tech might have prevented something from going down, given the chipiness of the series, and in the end, it\u2019s all semantics and optics rather than anything of consequence that will matter once Florida takes the field again in 2027.<\/p>\n In the next breath, we are the site that lambasted FSU for getting their feeling hurt after Florida planted a flag at midfield. We are the site that poked fun at Alabama and LSU basketball for rostering players who are no longer eligible for their parents\u2019 health insurance. We are the site that just put Kentucky Baseball on blast<\/a> for canceling a midweek game to preserve its RPI ahead of the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n So if fair is fair, had the roles been reversed in the post-game handshake line and had Texas Tech been the ones to walk away, we 100% would have put the Red Raiders on blast.<\/p>\n So\u2026 are we just supposed to pretend that we have to defend Florida Softball at all costs, in a way we wouldn\u2019t for Florida Football or Florida Basketball?<\/p>\n Or\u2026. is the lack of grit to shake someone\u2019s hand, no matter how petty things got, a sign that Florida was bound to choke under pressure? After all, if one is keeping score at home, Florida is 4-10 in the WCWS since 2018 and has made the \u201cFinal Four\u201d at the WCWS once since 2018.<\/p>\n Is that harsh to question, again, given the backdrop that countless other programs would trade for that in a heartbeat?<\/p>\n Perhaps.<\/p>\n But as more and more exposure comes softball\u2019s way, and with it come more and more NIL dollars, these are not unfair questions or observations.<\/p>\n
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