![Florida infielder Gabi Comia (10) tries to tag a celebrating Texas Tech catcher Lagi Quiroga (4) 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_128,w_2711,h_1524/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/275/01ksan7h4enrp4hyprjn.jpg "Florida infielder Gabi Comia (10) tries to tag a celebrating Texas Tech catcher Lagi Quiroga (4) 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]")
Friday afternoon’s matchup between the Texas Tech softball team and the Florida Gators was just flat out great. There’s so much to be excited about there. There’s so much to be impressed with.
For the first time ever, the Texas Tech Red Raiders managed to hand the Gators a loss. Prior to Game 1 in Gainesville, Texas Tech was 0-4 against the Florida softball team. But the last time these two teams met was back in 2009.
A lot has changed in 17 years. And now, because of Texas Tech’s Game 1 win in the 2026 Gainesville Super Regional, the Red Raiders are just one win away from getting right back to the Women’s College World Series for the second straight year.
Nothing is a given. Texas Tech can’t just assume that it’ll win. But things look pretty good right now.
Let’s go ahead and check out the numbers that show how the Texas Tech softball team took down the Florida Gators in Game 1 of the Gainesville Super Regional on Friday.
Texas Tech managed to strike out just once when facing the Gators, which feels insane
In 34 at-bats for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, there was only one strikeout against the Gators on Friday. That’s a remarkable and impressive amount of discipline at the plate when facing off against a pitcher like Keagan Rothrock and really the totality of the Gators pitching staff.
Entering Friday’s Game 1, Rothrock had 166 strikeouts on the season. She’s been dominant. And Texas Tech managed to put 12 hits and a trio of walks onto the stat sheet all while the Gators were unable to slow down Texas Tech’s bats.
And while there were certainly some issues for NiJaree Canady and Kaitlyn Terry against the Florida lineup (the Gators really know how to put runs up on the scoreboard and how to cause problems for pitchers visiting Gainesville), Texas Tech’s pitching staff still managed to strike seven batters out on Friday.
There were just so many home runs in this game, it’s a little absurd
It’s a great thing that Texas Tech’s lineup managed to get through the game and hit three home runs against Florida’s pitching staff. It’s so encouraging that the Red Raiders got a three-run home run from Lauren Allred, a solo shot from Lagi Quiroga, and then a two-run game winning home run from Mia Williams.
But it’s less of a great thing that the Florida Gators managed to get four home runs against Texas Tech’s pitching staff. That includes a two-run shot from Ava Brown in the fifth inning, a solo home run from Townsen Thomas in the fifth inning, a solo homer from Madison Walker in the sixth inning, and then a three-run shot from Brown in the sixth inning.
That’s a lot!
Brown, all on her own, managed to launch two home runs and brought five runs across the plate for the Gators. That’s pretty frightening. And it’s something that Texas Tech has to account for as they look to get a series win against the Gators and to leave Gainesville with a trip to the Women’s College World Series.
Texas Tech is showing that the Red Raiders just need to keep scoring at least 10 runs in a game
It really is remarkable just how many runs that this Texas Tech softball team is capable of scoring in any given game, but that’s especially true now that we’re in the postseason. Gerry Glasco’s team is facing off against some of the best teams in the country who are all hoping to compete for a national title and the Red Raiders are still scoring at a high rate.
If anything, it really feels like Texas Tech has stepped it up a bit now that the Red Raiders are in the postseason.
In all four of Texas Tech’s NCAA tournament games so far, the Red Raiders have managed to score at least 10 runs. Against Marist, the Red Raiders won 10-3. In the first matchup with the Ole Miss Rebels, Texas Tech won 10-9. And then in the matchup that sent Ole Miss back to Oxford, the Red Raiders won 14-2.
Then as we saw yesterday, Texas Tech came out on top 10-8. The Red Raiders are averaging 10.8 runs per game in the NCAA softball tournament (which is a good thing) and this offense truly is built with a dominant lineup with a ton of impressive hitters.
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