Florida Softball To Play Missouri For SEC Tournament Title

The Florida Gators softball team defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 7-3 in the semifinals Friday of the SEC Tournament at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn, Alabama.

Home runs from Mia Williams and Skylar Wallace helped lead Florida to the semifinal win.

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The No. 2 seed Gators (45-12) clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament final against the No.5 seed Missouri Tigers (43-14) on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Explosive Offense

The common theme in the last two matchups against the No. 3 seed Aggies (40-13) was chasing the starting pitcher early. The Gators chased Aggie starter Emily Leavitt (9-2) after an inning and two-thirds.

Williams opened the scoring with a three-run home run (her 4th) in the bottom of the second. Wallace hit a two-run home run (her 12th) later in the inning to make it 5-0 and end Leavitt’s night.

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After the Aggies scored three runs, the Gators gave themselves insurance runs to put the game away. Jocelyn Erickson hit a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-3 and clinch the fourth-straight win over the Aggies.

Rothrock’s Valiant Effort

Florida ace Keagan Rothrock (25-6) started the quarterfinal 9-4 win against seven seed Georgia earlier Friday, and got the call to start the semifinal game also. After pitching five and two-thirds innings in the first game, she went the distance in the nightcap for her 20th complete game of the season

Rothrock gave up three runs (one earned) and struck out six batters. The runs for the Aggies were scored on a Koko Wooley bunt single and multiple errors led to two runs. The only earned run Rothrock surrendered was off a Kennedy Powell RBI single.

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Up Next

The Gators will play in their 10th tourney title game to face a Missouri, which beat  No.8 seed LSU Tigers 2-1 in an earlier semifinal, team that won the season series 2-1 in Columbia in April 12-14. Like the Gators, the Tigers won two games Friday because of inclement weather Thursday. In their quarterfinal, they beat the No.4 seed Arkansas Razorbacks 3-1.

Missouri is looking for its first tournament championship after advancing three times (2022, 2013) in program history. The Gators go after their sixth SEC tourney title.