Florida Gators Softball Opens Season at the USF-Rawlings Invitational
The No. 6-ranked Florida Gators softball team will start its 2026 season at the USF-Rawlings Invitational Friday at 7 p.m. at USF Softball Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
The Gators face Illinois State, Michigan, Bethune-Cookman, Kansas and South Florida over the weekend.
Last season, Florida went undefeated at the USF-Rawlings Invitational. Its tournament sweep included dominant wins against Illinois State, Michigan and USF, teams which the Gators will face again this weekend.
The Redbirds lost 10-2 to the Gators last season in the USF-Rawlings Invitational and finished the 2025 season 22-28. They are led by senior pitcher Hannah Meshnick, who earned preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference honorable mention recognitions.
Bethune-Cookman finished 23-31 and ended its 2025 season with a loss to Florida A&M in the SWAC Tournament. Meanwhile, Kansas ended its season 22-28.
South Florida finished its 2025 season 44-16-1 and were eliminated in the NCAA regional after losses to Auburn and then No. 5 Florida State. The Gators beat the Bulls 8-0 in the USF-Rawlings Invitational last year.
Michigan looks to be the Gators’ toughest opponents this weekend. The Wolverines finished 39-21 last year and were eliminated in the NCAA Regional after losses to then No. 3 Texas and UCF. Three Wolverines– Jenissa Conway, Indiana Langford and Lauren Putz– earned preseason Big Ten honors in January.
Florida ended its 2025 season in the Women’s College World Series in May after losing to Texas and Tennessee. They finished the season 48-17.
In January, Jocelyn Erikson, Keagan Rothrock and Taylor Shumaker were named to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List. The next week, the three also earned spots on the 2026 Preseason All-Southeastern Conference Team.
Last season, Shumaker was named the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Freshman of the Year and earned NFCA First Team All-American honors. She also tied Florida’s single-season records for both home runs with 22 and RBI with 86.
“There’s nothing she can do this year that’s gonna be equal to last year other than being better than last year ‘cause the expectations have changed,” Florida head coach Tim Walton said.
Rothrock is expected to return to pitching for Florida after an injury-plagued season in 2025.
“I don’t know that there’s ever gonna be a clean bill of health for Keagan, unfortunately,” Walton said. “She’s never not on my injury report, she doesn’t run with the team, so there’s no clean bill of health. It’s just, again, junior Keagan. More mature. A little bit tougher in the circle.”
On Saturday, Florida will meet Michigan at 1 p.m. and Bethune-Cookman at 6 p.m. The Gators will play Kansas at noon and South Florida at 2:35 p.m. the next day.
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