After the Texas Tech Red Raiders punched their ticket to the Women’s College World Series with a run-rule victory over Florida in Game 3 of the Gainesville Super Regional, the Gators pulled off a move in collegiate softball that was borderline disrespectful; they skipped the handshake line entirely. Florida made a beeline for their locker room, avoiding the team they had spent the entire weekend trying to intimidate. And it was a fitting end to one of the craziest Super Regionals in recent memory.
In the aftermath of the win, the internet has largely split into two opposing sides: those who think Florida’s conduct was disgraceful, and those who think Texas Tech’s players were no better. And the honest answer when you look at what actually happened across three days in Gainesville, is that both sides are right. It’s the story of two programs that let a transfer-portal grudge spiral completely out of control.
A batter hit five times. Five.
Let’s start with the most obvious issue, and the one that has been brought up the most. Texas Tech leadoff hitter Mia Williams, who happens to be a Florida transfer playing in Gainesville for the first time since leaving the program, was hit by a pitch five times across the three-game series. Those hits include the very first pitch of Game 1 and the opening pitch of Game 3 on Sunday.
Obviously, Florida coach Tim Walton insisted in his post-game press conference that no one was trying to hit her on purpose. But it seems to be an increasingly hard sell, especially to the Red Raiders fanbase. In fact, it’s hard to argue whether you’re a TTU fan or not. One hit batter is an accident, two is unfortunate. But five hits on the same player, including the opening pitch of two separate games, really stretches believability to its breaking point. Whether intentional or simply reckless, Williams’ return to Gainesville was met with a bruising welcome that had no place in competitive college softball.
“How big for Mia Williams to go up there today,” said Gerry Glasco after Game 3. “With all the pressure on her and everything that’s been done to create as much attention as you can.”
In one instance, when Mia Williams was hit with a ball, Red Raiders player Jasmyn Burns was caught on video shouting an expletive from the dugout directly at Rothrock during the game. And after the game, as fans were exiting the stadium, Greg Rothrock, the father of Florida pitcher Keagan Rothrock, got into a verbal confrontation with a Texas Tech fan.
Whatever frustrations the Red Raiders had built up during the series, and there were some legitimate frustrations, taking it out on an opposing player’s parent in the stands simply is not a defensible response.
All that being said, the buildup to Mia Williams’ return to Gainesville started before the first pitch as her mother, Denika Williams, publicly criticized Florida head coach Tim Walton and the program’s pitching on Facebook, writing: “And here’s some advice, instead of the 18 shortstops you keep getting. GO GRAB A PITCHER!!!!!” Both of her parents, Jason and Denika Williams, previously competed as Florida athletes, adding another layer of familiarity, as well as tension, to her return to Gainesville.
The stands were worse than the field
If the on-field conduct was troubling enough, but reports that came from the stands all weekend made it worse. There were multiple accounts that describe a hostile atmosphere throughout the series. One incident included profane language and vulgar gestures directed at Williams and even her family sitting in the stands throughout the weekend. In fact, a Florida fan was actually ejected from the stadium after a confrontation with Williams’ father. The former NBA player Jason Williams, aka White Chocolate, had initially been escorted out before police brought him back in and removed the Florida fan instead.
Walton’s ejection and the handshake refusal
Florida’s head coach was ejected just before the run-rule ended the game after a heated argument with an umpire over balls and strikes. Jason Williams suggested that the ejection was intentional, claiming Walton didn’t want to stick around for the handshake, as he told the Gainesville Sun. Walton denied there was any organized snub. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t really matter whether it was premeditated by the coach, because the entire Florida Gators softball team chose not to shake hands. That is what happened.
Texas Tech lined up near home plate, ready for the post-game handshake, while Florida stayed in the dugout and then exited to the locker room.
In a sport where the postgame handshake is a sacred, long-standing tradition, a tradition that even survives even the most heated rivalries because of a little thing called “sportsmanship,” Florida couldn’t manage it. The resulting chaos had Texas Tech players giving both confused looks and flashing the “guns up” Red Raiders hand gesture while Florida fans were cursing at the player and even flipping them off.
Unfortunately, what happened after the game was the natural consequence of a culture of poor sportsmanship that Florida allowed to define its Super Regional.
Transfer portal is not a personal betrayal
What is underlying all of this seems to be a sense of entitlement from the Florida program. Mia Williams simply used the transfer portal, the same mechanism thousands of college athletes use every single year, with the full blessing of the NCAA. Mia Williams isn’t a villain. She was a young student-athlete who decided to play softball somewhere else, and the fact that Florida fans and, seemingly, the Florida program treated her return as some kind of personal slight is both immature and unfair to a player who was simply exercising her rights.
Coach Glasco put it plainly: “With all the pressure on her and everything that’s been done to create as much as attention as you can, it’s a normal thing in this day and age for athletes to transfer, and we want to make a big deal out of it is uncalled for. When they did pitch to her, she took the challenge and hit it out. She won every battle that was thrown in her way today.”
Florida coach Tim Walton denied any mistreatment, stating, “I have no idea where that came from. I don’t think that’s fair to the kids in both dugouts. I have no idea where that pot was being stirred. There’s never been a problem ever. Kids transfer all the time.”
But at the end of the day, whatever narrative you believe, it’s Coach Glasco who hit the nail on the head. Williams didn’t owe Florida anything. She went to Gainesville this weekend, got hit by pitches five times, and still hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the decisive game. That’s not someone who crumbled under pressure; it’s someone who rose above it.
Texas Tech handled this with class
Whatever celebrations Texas Tech had after the final out, they had every right to celebrate winning a Super Regional on the road. If Florida had won, it would have been the same storyline about the post-game celebrations.
But Texas Tech walked into a hostile environment, absorbed relentless pressure, and won. The Red Raiders are now headed to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, where they will be cheered on by a lot of fans who watched this weekend and know exactly how they got there.
Florida, meanwhile, will continue to try to explain why its fans and coaching staff turned a softball game into a grudge match against a 20-something transfer student, and why, when it was all over, they couldn’t even shake hands.
This article originally appeared on Red Raiders Wire: Reviewing Texas Tech vs Florida in Game 3 after the dust settled
Reporting by Lauren Beasley, Red Raiders Wire / Red Raiders Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
