![Florida infielder Madison Walker (24) gets back to first under Texas Tech infielder Jackie Lis (00) during the super regional game of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Friday, May 22, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_85,w_2728,h_1534/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/275/01ksdapt3hkgk9ke8p47.jpg "Florida infielder Madison Walker (24) gets back to first under Texas Tech infielder Jackie Lis (00) during the super regional game of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Friday, May 22, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Just one more win between Gerry Glasco and the Texas Tech softball team having a chance to get back to Oklahoma City and competing in the Women’s College World Series once again. Just one more victory and the Red Raiders will have a shot at continuing their historic season with an opportunity to compete for a national title.
But should Texas Tech lose today, then the Red Raiders will be heading back home to Lubbock after coming up short. Texas Tech is in an elimination game. They can’t afford to fall short today if they want to win it all this season.
Of course, neither can the Florida Gators. They’ve been on the brink of elimination since losing on Friday.
So, as these two teams face off on Sunday in a Game 3, I have a few questions for the Red Raiders.
Are Texas Tech’s pitchers ready to face Florida in a winner-take-all sort of situation?
How will the Red Raiders fare in the circle of this matchup? So far, the Florida Gators have found ways to absolutely terrorize all three of Texas Tech’s pitchers, which is alarming.
During the Red Raiders’ Game 1 win, Texas Tech came out on top, but Kaitlyn Terry gave up six hits, five runs (three of which were earned), and walked three batters. NiJaree Canady gave up three hits, three runs (all of which were earned, and hit a batter with a pitch. The Red Raiders won, but it wasn’t the best pitching performance this staff has put together this season.
In Saturday’s Game 2 loss to the Gators, Canady went 3.2 innings and surrendered five hits, five runs (all of which were earned), and walked a batter. She did strike out five Florida batters, but that wasn’t enough. When Samantha Lincoln stepped into the circle, she gave up nine hits and five runs (all of which were earned) and then walked three batters in 3.1 innings pitched.
That’s a problem. Does Texas Tech have an answer for that?
Will Florida’s impressive home field advantage hold in this series? Can Texas Tech overcome its history against the Gators?
I don’t take a ton of stock in things that happened over a decade ago, but it’s almost worth pointing out that Texas Tech has a history of struggling while playing on the road against Florida. The Red Raiders currently sit at 1-5 when facing the Gators in Gainesville.
On top of that, Florida is just flat out a remarkably difficult team to beat in Gainesville in general. Up to this point in the season, Florida is 30-4 at home. The Gators haven’t lost a series at home this year (they’ve only lost two series so far this season).
Texas Tech’s head coach was certainly aware of that fact. Can Glasco and Texas Tech find a way to break that trend and give the Gators their first home series loss of the season?
Can the Red Raiders figure out and come up with a solution for Keagan Rothrock?
Texas Tech just flat out hasn’t been able to really find meaningful success when facing off against Florida pitcher Keagan Rothrock over the past couple of games. Rothrock has been really productive, pitching in the first two games of this series.
Game one wasn’t her best showing (it actually wasn’t great at all), though she did make it through a few innings without giving up an earned run. Texas Tech did get contact against Rothrock on Friday, getting five hits and scoring three runs. Along with that, Rothrock did issue a couple of walks and hit a batter with a pitch.
But on Saturday, Rothrock managed to go through 7.0 innings pitched and only gave up two runs (both earned) to the Red Raiders. She struck out five batters (and also gave up five hits) and generally looked really impressive. Rothrock did issue a couple of walks and hit three batters with pitches.
But something worth paying attention to here is that Rothrock has thrown 182 pitches in just two days. And in total, she’s issued four walks and hit four batters with pitches. With this being a winner-take-all situation, there’s no doubt that if it’s safe for Rothrock and she is physically able to pitch that she will. Can Texas Tech cause some problems for the Gators if she ends up in the circle today?
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