GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 3 Florida softball team earned a 3-1 victory over No. 2 Texas on Monday night in its series finale with the Longhorns at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

In front of a crowd of 2,108, the Gators recorded their highest-ranked home victory since defeating No. 1/2 Florida State on April 12, 2017.

Freshman pitcher Katelynn Oxley (4-2) earned her first Southeastern Conference win in the circle, allowing just one run, unearned, and two hits in five innings of work.

Sophomore Ava Brown tallied her second save of the season, entering the game in the fifth with a runner on first and no outs and throwing two hitless innings. 

Freshman Taylor Shumaker recorded the biggest hit of the night for the Gators, a two-RBI double that put Florida ahead in the bottom of the third.

The Gators now hold a 28-4 record on the season and 3-3 in SEC play.

NOTABLES:

• Brown and Oxley held Texas to a season-low in both runs (1) and hits (2)

  • The Longhorns had not been held to two hits in a game since May 11, 2024 vs. Oklahoma

• With two RBI on the night, Shumaker now has 48 on the season, moving into a tie for fifth-most RBI by a Florida freshman with Amanda Lorenz (2016)

  • Shumaker leads the team with 14 multi-RBI games

• Senior Kendra Falby extended her on-base streak to 32 games and her hitting streak to 18 games

  • Falby has recorded at least one hit in all but two games

• Mia Williams’ sacrifice fly in the fourth inning was the first of her career
• This is Florida’s first win over Texas since Feb. 24, 2012, in Palm Springs, California. The Gators won that match up 5-1
• Florida recorded their second successful pick-off of the season in the first inning, from catcher Jocelyn Erickson to first baseman Reagan Walsh

HEAR FROM THE GATORS:
On the team’s ability to bounce back after the two losses on Saturday…
“When you pitch that well like Katelynn and Ava did, we’ll probably win every game when they pitch like that. That was a really good pitching performance. I said going into the series that it was going to be like a mirror image of a team. Obviously, they pitched a lot better than us this weekend, but offensively it’s a grind all the way through nine hitters in their lineup plus a pinch hitter, same thing as our line up it’s a grind plus one. We did a good job. The first play of the game was an error and I had a conversation with Katelynn at the end of the first inning and she was more embarrassed that she threw the ball like that. Long-story short I think we did a good job bouncing back.” – Head coach Tim Walton

On Katelynn Oxley’s improvement in Game 3 of the series…

“I can’t speed up the maturing process. Clearly, she’s got good spin rate, she’s got two out pitches, she’s got deception with the herky-jerky motion, she’s a competitor, she’s a champion, so she has it. It’s just, does she have it in certain moments, that’s a hard part to teach and I think she’s just getting a little more comfortable, I think that probably has a lot to do with it. It was her second SEC weekend to start a game, so there’s a lot of firsts for this kid.” – Head coach Tim Walton

On Taylor Shumaker having a maturity beyond a freshman…

“I think this kid has come right in with maturity right from the beginning. Taylor Shumaker said I’m going to hit a home run on my very first day. I think there is a lot of maturity in Taylor Shumaker. She has played at the highest level for a long time. Her (club) coach was really hard on her because he’s had so many really good ones before her and understood her potential and understands her leadership skills, her drive and her makeup. Her ability to stay inside the ball is what makes her really good. That was an inside pitch she hit off of Mac Morgan probably at 68-69, and she stayed inside and spun it into the left center gap which not many people can do. So, she’s got the it factor; she’s mature, and she works really hard. The feedback she’s been giving us is probably the biggest surprise. It’s the confidence in the feedback that’s advanced. That’s stuff people don’t typically do until they get a little bit older. Usually it comes after failure, she’s talking about it through success and failure, it’s rare. I have not seen a kid like this.” – Head coach Tim Walton

 

On her changes against Texas pitcher Mac Morgan…

“The last day and a half that we’ve been working after the doubleheader, I just knew that there was a lot more I had to learn about hitting against her since I didn’t do very well the first time. I just kind of leaned into my coaches and into my teammates to try to learn a different way on how to do it.” – freshman Taylor Shumaker

On facing SEC pitchers and stepping up in big-time moments…

“I knew the competition was going to be a lot different once we got into SEC play. Obviously, it’s still softball either way, but I did know that going into SEC play you’re going to be facing an All-American at every single position during every single game. I know that there are going to be times where I do have success, but there are going to be days where other people are the ones that just have to put the team on their back and go to war. There are going to be people who are going to have to succeed in different moments and it’s not always going to be me every time and I’m totally okay with that. As long as the team in general succeeds, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s me every single time.” – freshman Taylor Shumaker

On how she has improved in her second start of the weekend…

“I think it is because I am a freshman. So, a lot of physical outcomes start with the mentality aspect. I am constantly talking to my teammates, my coaches, and learning how to improve that side to make my physical side better. Constantly working with Coach Steph (Vanbrakle Prothro) and everybody else just makes me better and seeing what everybody else is doing around me makes me want to be better for them.” – freshman Katelynn Oxley

On what changed for her mentally…

Something that mentally I changed going into the game today was that I need to lean on my teammates. I have a great team behind me, and I’m just going to throw the ball to the best of my ability and whatever happens, happens. I’m good enough and my team is good enough to win and I just need to trust it that. Trust has been a big aspect mentally for me in both series and also nervousness. I’m a freshman so that’s going to happen. But my teammates have my back, I have a great pitching staff that I can lean into and learn from and I have a great pitching staff that I can lean into and learn from. So, I think that’s what changes for me. Going deeper into counts, deeper in games, deeper in lineups.” – freshman Katelynn Oxley

UP NEXT:

The Gators travel to Jacksonville for a pair of midweek games.

Florida plays at Jacksonville on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and at UNF on Thursday at 6 p.m.

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