Already armed with two national titles, UF's remarkable Class of 2016 will be honored Saturday against Arkansas
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The five of them were kicked back in the players lounge. The conversation, like the scene, was very casual, even kind of fun. There was reminiscing about the first time they arrived on campus together, even the buzz they'd heard about one another before they all met. Eventually, of course, there was a dose of reflection about their collective place in University of Florida lore.
And since we're talking about the 2016 softball senior class — the one already with two NCAA championship rings and currently ranked No. 1 heading toward another postseason — that legacy is a significant one.
Eventually came The Question.
The one about their senior send-off, set for Saturday, when the Gators (49-4, 17-4 SEC) host Arkansas (17-36, 1-20 SEC) at Pressly Stadium. The quintet of infielder Taylore Fuller, outfielder Kirsti Merritt, catcher Aubree Munro, first baseman Taylor Schwarz and infielder Kelsey Stewart — they of the combined 900 career hits, 750 runs, 622 RBI, 112 homers and, more importantly, 222 victories — will be honored in a ceremony before Saturday's 1 p.m. date with the Razorbacks.
So ladies, will the Senior Day afternoon of flowers, parents and pageantry be a big deal? Or are you more focused on the even bigger deal? The softball stuff? Like clinching a regular-season Southeastern Conference title at home for the first time since 1998? Or like hosting a regional and super regional?
Or like chasing a three-peat?
They all smiled.
"I think it's bittersweet. You're not ready for it to be over," said Stewart, the two-time first-team All-American and 2015 SEC Player of the Year. "I mean, we can be like, 'Yeah, we beat everyone's butts,' but the five of us aren't going to be on the field together much longer. I don't think any of us have looked past that. … "
That's when Stewart put her head in her hands and, yes, started crying. Apparently, she does that sometimes.
That's when Munro wrapped an arm around her teammate.
"It's not like this is the last time we're going to be playing softball," said Munro, one of four in the room drafted to National Pro Fastpitch after their careers are wrapped. "For me, though, I'm going to be [emotional] about it because I've enjoyed my time as a Gator so much. That's why it's sad for me."
Kelsey Stewart is a two-time All-American and the 2015 SEC Player of the Year.
These are the Tim Walton tough-as-nails Gators, though, so expect "sad" eventually to give way to breaking bad. This is the time of year Walton's teams live for and this batch of ladies has been in the middle of the tough stuff before. Each had high-profile roles alongside Hannah Rogers (2014) and Lauren Haeger (2015) as those two seniors took the Gators on memorable rides the last two springs.
Now, it's their time
Their last time.
Walton fondly recalled the roots of this group's journey to UF. Obviously, he saw each play a bunch, in person, starting when they were in the seventh or eighth grade. The players, in turn, knew they were being scoped by a coach who'd rapidly built a juggernaut that made annual visits to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
He first saw Merritt, out of tiny Lake Panasoffkee, Fla., zipping around a Gainesville area ball field during a club tournament. He loved how she played.
"It was a typical Kirsti game," she said. "The 105-pound kid running all over the place."
Kirsti Merritt has anchored centerfield the last three seasons.
Walton went west to scope out Munro, out of Brea, Calif., after hearing from both her own and opposing coaches how much of a diamond rat she was, how much she just loved to play softball.
"I saw him in the bleachers in that signature stance," Munro said.
Ah, the stance: Hands on his back side, upright, nudging his hips forward. They all learned quickly to recognize … and now replicate it.
More laughing.
Fuller was a local. A straight shot out Newberry Road into Trenton. She was a standout shortstop, but chubby and (her words) "terrible looking." That changed in 10th grade when she grew six inches. Walton envisioned her as a catcher, to the point that every scouting encounter began with "So Taylore, how's that catchin' coming?"
She resisted, but eventually relented. Then came that tournament when her coach was yelling at her to put more on her catcher-to-second throw-downs between innings. Fuller was about to tell him to chill out when she wheeled around and saw Walton behind the backstop.
"He was timing me," Fuller said.
Schwarz was from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., but Walton really took notice of her during a tournament in California. Loved how she warmed up, how she moved and threw the ball. He wasn't crazy about the bats-right, throws-left thing, but when he showed up, she hit.
"I had a really good game that first day," Schwarz said.
Stewart, out of Kansas, was a multi-sport superstar and one of the nation's top prospects and the Gators — believe it or not — were spread thin as far as scholarships and weren't sure they had anything to offer her. Alabama was very much in the picture for Stewart.
"Then something happened," Walton said.
Attrition happened, that's what — hey, it happens — and all five were offered around the fall of 2010. They showed up in the fall of 2012.
Fuller, the converted catcher by orders of her new coach, first laid eyes on Munro, the backstop with bird legs, in a hotel elevator with their parents.
"That's her," Fuller told her mother about her pending competition.
Catcher Aubree Munro has been masterful handling UF's pitching the last three seasons.
When they got together for the first time, Munro learned both she and Schwarz drove Jeeps. Some had Facebook friended each other and began communicating that way. They told stories, asked personal questions and slowly broke the ice. They all found common ground with each other.
Walton, meanwhile, found common denominators.
"They were all athletes," he said. "All fierce competitors."
And all came from high-level programs that did not just win, but won big.
"We talked about it," Schwarz said. "We were going to win a championship here."
Sure enough, they've won SEC titles and national titles (two each … so far). This year, they've won 92.4 percent of their games, falling prey to what Walton called three bad innings all season. Those innings and the ensuing outcomes did not sit well in the clubhouse.
"I think our class is the worst, sorest losers ever. If we lose, we're mad at the world," Stewart said. "We've lost four games this year, and every time it's been like, 'Seriously? Are we this bad? What happened?' Like the world is ending. That's just our mentality. Win and we're happy. Lose, we're miserable."
These Gators have been overwhelmingly happy the last four years. But what of the next four weeks?
The final four weeks?
"Now that we're seniors, it finally hits you," Merritt said. "I'm not ever going to have the same opportunities, won't ever get to hang out with these same 19 girls again, won't ever be able to go into the [batting] cage or that weight room again. I mean, I will, but it won't be the same. So I'm going to cherish it. That's what I've been trying to do. It's hitting me."
She paused, while her classmates smiled. And sniffed.
"This is the end," Merritt said. "I don't want it to end."
