Generally speaking, it’s a good thing to win and a bad thing to lose. But you know what’s really not fun? Losing to your rival. That stinks. That can be pretty painful.
But you know what is somehow even worse than that, losing to your rival on a national stage. That’s no fun. And even worse than that? Losing to a rival on a national stage in an elimination game that keeps you from contending for a national championship.
Unfortunately for the Florida Gators, that’s exactly the sort of unfun situation that they find themselves in. Florida’s season ended with a devastating and heartbreaking and just really, really bad loss against the Tennessee Lady Vols during the 2025 Women’s College World Series.
In what was a must-win game for both Florida and Tennessee, the Lady Vols managed to beat up on the Gators, delivering an 11-3 defeat (shoutout to the college softball mercy rule) that put a frustrating end on what was an otherwise really solid season for UF.
Tennessee Lady Vols send Florida Gators home with run rule beatdown during 2025 Women’s College World Series elimination game
And now here I am hoping that Gerry Glasco and the Texas Tech Red Raiders don’t have to run into Tennessee at any given point during this Women’s College world Series. Because I, for one, would appreciate seeing the Red Raiders have a shot at contending for a championship, not trying to survive the way that Tennessee operates.
Trying to keep up with a Tennessee team that is absolutely dynamite at the plate and is just routinely remarkable in the circle wouldn’t be fun! No fun at all!
And Florida is a cautionary tale of that. A few early mistakes spiraled out of control in a hurry and those catastrophic issues turned into that eight run problem for the Gators.
Again, now the Gators are headed home. Now the Tennessee Lady Vols advance on to trying to send another team home. And also again, I don't want to see Texas Tech in that sort of position.