Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said he respected the Gators' decision not to shake hands with Texas Tech after a tense Super Regional series that ended with a 16-7, five-inning loss and an ejection for Tim Walton. Stricklin said he was not in the ballpark, but he watched some of the game and stood behind whatever choice the Florida side made.
That response matters because the weekend in question was not a routine postseason exit. Florida and Texas Tech had spent three games in a matchup that drew a fan ejection, and former Florida player Mia Williams, now a Texas Tech slugger, was hit five times in three games. By the time Florida left the field without the customary handshake, the series had already taken on the edge of something more personal than a normal Super Regional.
Stricklin was in Indianapolis from May 22-24 working with the NCAA Division I baseball tournament selection committee, but he still followed part of Florida's 16-7 loss in Game 3. At SEC Spring Meetings in Miramar Beach, he described the weekend as highly charged and said the teams were competing to go to the World Series. He added that he would respect any decision Walton made.
Walton said he was not consulted about the decision not to shake hands. He also said that on TV, people were talking about the possibility of a bench-clearing brawl, and added that he had never seen that in softball in his life. That gap between the public read of the moment and who actually made the call is what still hangs over the series.
Stricklin's comments give Florida's top athletic official on-the-record backing for a decision that was made in a hotly contested postseason setting, but they do not answer who inside the program decided to skip the handshake. What is clear is that the series left Florida with more to defend than a scoreline, and more to explain than a loss.
