NCAA Regional: Gators Softball Play Bethune-Cookman, Players Honored

The Florida Gators softball team will host its 14^th consecutive NCAA Regional at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Only Oregon precedes the Gators as the nations top seed.

Bethune-Cookman (31-24), South Florida (38-21) and Ohio State (34-14) are joining Florida in the Gainesville Regional. Florida will battle the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Friday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. The Gainesville Regionals will take place from May 18-May 20.

Therefore, Florida plays the winner of USF and Ohio State on Sunday if they beat the Wildcats. The winners of the Gainesville Regional and College Station Regional will play in the Gainesville Super Regional May 25-27.

The TOP 4️⃣ seeds (alphabetical order) of the 2018 #NCAASoftball Championship❗️@GatorsSB @OU_Softball @OregonSB @UCLASoftball pic.twitter.com/dWQ9uoBSmw

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 14, 2018

Gators Past

The Gators have hosted an NCAA Regional every year under head coach Tim Walton. The team is 38-19 all-time in NCAA Regionals, with the last 13 wins by Florida being shutouts. The Gators hold a 16-2 record against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. Additionally, Florida is 2-0 against the Ohio State Buckeyes and 45-13 versus USF. The Gators went undefeated in the regular season against USF, outscoring the Bulls 23-3 in two games.

For the 4th time in program history, the @FloridaGators are @SEC Tournament Champs! https://t.co/fSyDjjpRlt pic.twitter.com/SBu8CkRus0

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 13, 2018

Player Honors

Several players have been honored after Florida sealed its fourth SEC Tournament win. Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill are in the running for the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced that five members of the Florida softball team received NFCA All-Southeast Region team placements. Barnhill, Nicole DeWitt, Lorenz and Aleshia Ocasio made the first team, while Janell Wheaton made the third team.

Furthermore, Barnhill and Kayli Kvistad are on the Google Cloud Academic All-District Softball Team as selected by College Sports Information Directors of America for a second consecutive year.