Florida softball coach Tim Walton gets ejected over strike zone, ESPN commentator backs him up

With the Florida Gators down 3-2 to Stanford in their Palo Alto Regional matchup at the top of the fourth inning, head coach Tim Walton was ejected following a disagreement with the umpires.

With senior pitcher Elizabeth Hightower on the mound, Walton had enough of some questionable calls from the home plate umpire and gave him a piece of his mind, kicking dirt and showing clear frustration with the ball and strike calls leading to his ejection.

Even ESPN announcer and former player Amanda Scarborough agreed with Walton’s frustration during the broadcast of the game, suggesting that some pitches that were called balls could very well have been strikes. Walton’s ejection and the questionable pitches can be watched below.

Here we go again!!!

Softball: Stanford Regional final

Home plate ump Jim Bertussi begins squeezing Elizabeth Hightower and compressing the strike zone to the size of a grain of sand. Tim Walton loses his mind, and Bertussi— of course, with feelings made of styrofoam— tosses him pic.twitter.com/lGbqo2nRC0

— InAllKindsOfWeather.com (@AllKindsWeather) May 21, 2023

Assistant coach Aric Thomas will man the head coaching duties for Walton for the remainder of the game and potentially moving forward for the Gators in the Regionals.

The Gators already dropped a game to Stanford during the Regionals, and two wins over Loyola Marymount advanced them to the Palo Alto Regional Championship. A win over Standord would force a winner-take-all game for a spot in the Super Regionals, but by rule, Walton would not be able to coach the Gators in the matchup as a result of his ejection.

Walton is in the midst of his 18th season at the helm for the Gators. Post season success has been his calling card, leading the Gators to 11 World Series appearances, one as recent as last season, and two national championship wins in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015. He’s also led Florida to eight SEC regular season championships, five SEC championships, 15 Regional appearances, and 12 Super Regional appearance in his career.

This season he led Florida to a 35-19 overall record and an 11-13 record in SEC play, highlighted by series wins over Missouri, Auburn, Georgia, and Ole Miss. They won their first matchup of the SEC Tournament with a 6-2 win over Kentucky before falling to the top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers who’d go on to win the tournament title.

It’s been a back-and-forth affair at the Palo Alto Regionals for the Gators, who started things off with a 3-2 win over Loyola Marymount which was followed by an 8-0 shutout loss to Stanford. The Gators rallied, securing a much-needed 10-6 win over Loyola Marymount on the same day as their loss, and are now battling the Cardinal to keep their postseason hopes alive.