After losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship game of the SEC Tournament last spring, the Florida Gators softball team will be on the hunt for a shot at redemption in 2022. The team will get that chance on familiar grass.
The SEC softball schedule was announced on Thursday, including all of Florida’s opponents for the upcoming spring. Among the highlights, Florida will get a rematch with the Crimson Tide in Gainesville in April.
Ramping up into April
The Gators won’t find any of the toughest tests on the schedule in March, as the first three series of conference play should all be manageable. Home bouts against Mississippi State and Tennessee, as well as a trip to College Station, Texas to take on Texas A&M sandwiched in between, should give the Gators time to find their groove. None of the three teams finished among the top six SEC teams last year, and Tennessee just barely cracked the top half of the conference.
Once the team hits April, though, it’s go time. The month is opened by a quick trip to Auburn, Alabama before the hardest four-series stretch of the conference play for head coach Tim Walton’s team. Alabama comes to town on April 8-10, after which Florida will go to Ole Miss on April 15-17. Then the team returns home once again for a series against Arkansas, the two-seed in the SEC Tournament last year, from April 22-24 before the month is wrapped up by a trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on the LSU Tigers on April 29-May 1.
Gators host SEC Championship
After playing the tournament in Tuscaloosa, Alabama last spring, Florida will begin its postseason a lot closer to home in 2022. The SEC Tournament will be held at the Gators’ own Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium from May 10-14.
Alabama beat Florida in the championship last year in front of a home crowd of crimson-clad supporters. Now, the Gators will hope for the same effect in orange and blue.
Contact Carson at ccashion@alligator.org Follow him on Twitter @carsoncashion.
Carson Cashion is a third-year sports journalism major at UF, and the sports editor at The Alligator for the 2022 summer semester. A native of Altamonte Springs, Carson spends his free time walking his dog, Baxter, and listening to good music. He is an avid Tennessee sports fan, and eagerly awaits watching one of his teams win a championship for the first time.
