Five Gators Earn All-Southeast Region Honors
Thursday, May 15, 2008 | Softball
Five University of Florida Softball players have been named to Louisville Slugger All-Southeast Region teams, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced on Wednesday night. Junior Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) was named to the second team while freshman Aja Paculba (Wildomar, Calif.), sophomore Francesca Enea (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) and juniors Ali Gardiner (Waccabuc, N.Y.) and Stacey Neslon (Los Alamitos, Calif.) were named to the first team.
Five players being named to All-Region teams is the most in program history. All five players will now be advanced to the All-America voting. Florida has had three players earn All-America honors in the 12-year history of the program, including Nelson and Waleszonia who both earned the honor last season.
Waleszonia is Florida's starting centerfielder and second leading hitter with a .361 batting average. She leads the team with five triples, 10 sacrifice hits and 18 stolen bases on the season. She went on a season-long 10-game hit streak from April 16 to May 3 and also recorded two nine-game hits streaks, one from Feb. 27 to March 9 and another from March 12 to March 26. Waleszonia has only been held hitless in 14 games on the season and only been kept off base in seven. She reached base in a season-long 16 straight games from Feb. 17 to March 9. Waleszonia has recorded 21 multiple hit games on the season including five games with three hits against Long Beach State, Pacific, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. She shares the team lead with 13 game-winning runs on the year and slso recorded the game-winning RBI in wins over Gardner-Webb, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
“My teammates and I have all worked hard this season,” said Waleszonia. “I am excited for all of us who received these honors, but everyone on the team deserves to be honored for their efforts.”
Paculba is the first freshman in Florida history to be named to an All-Region team. As Florida's starting second baseman, Paculba leads the team in runs scored and has set a new Florida record for runs scored in a season with 57. She has recorded 15 multiple hit and six multiple RBI games on the year. Paculba recorded a season-high eight-game hit streak from March 12 at Alabama to March 23 vs. Longwood. She has scored two or more runs in 17 games, including a season-high three runs against Gardner-Webb and Auburn Paculba scored runs in eight straight games from March 30 to April 16. She is second on the team with 31 walks on the year, including two or more walks in nine different games. She recorded five game-winning RBI on the season and shares the team lead with 13 game-winning runs on the year.
“As a freshman I don't really have a good perspective on what this award means,” Paculba said. “None the less, it is an honor and is a great motivator going into the post-season.”
Enea is Florida's leading home run hitter with 14 on the season. Florida's left field also leads the team with a school record six sacrifice flies on the season. She leads the team with 17 game-winning RBI. Four of her game-winning RBI were sacrifice flies Enea has scored the game-winning runs in wins over USF, East Tennessee State, Hofstra, Notre Dame, Longwood, South Carolina and Auburn. She has recorded 15 multiple-hit and 14 multiple-RBI games on the season. Her season-long seven-game hit streak lasted from Feb. 17 to Feb. 24. She reached base in 19 straight games from Feb. 10 to March 2. She hit for a season-high three RBI six different times this season.
“After struggling with my injury last season, I am very excited to be honored by the coaches in the Southeast Region,” Enea said. “This is a great honor, not only for me, but for my teammates as well.”
Gardiner, a first baseman, is Florida's leading hitter with a .418 average, a .658 slugging percentage and a .511 on base percentage. She also leads Florida in hits, doubles, RBI and walks. Gardiner recorded a team-leading 22 multiple hit games and 17 multiple RBI games, including four games with four or more RBI. She is currently on a 12-game hit streak dating back to the Kentucky game on April 20 and has also currently reached base in 23 straight games, dating back to March 30. She has only been kept off base in five games overall this season. She recorded game-winning RBI in 13 games and scored the game-winning run in six games.
“To be completely honest, I am excited to by honored, but I would rather us complete our team goals before I received any individual honor,” Gardiner said.
Nelson, Florida's ace in the pitching circle and a USA Softball National Player of the Year candidate, leads Florida's pitching staff with a 40-2 record with four saves and a 0.79 ERA. Her two losses on the season have been by a total of two runs, only one of which was earned. She has struck out a school record 298 batters in 275.0 innings, while walking only 95. Nelson has given up only 31 earned runs on the season. She given up only one home run, and only did that in the last game of the regular season. This season, Nelson set school single season records for wins and strikeouts, while setting career records for win, strikeouts, shut outs and complete games. She recorded 46.2 consecutive shutout innings from the first inning of the South Florida game until the Notre Dame game and another 44.2 consecutive scoreless innings from March 29 vs. LSU to April 13 at Georgia. She threw a total of 63 innings without giving up an earned run from the first game of the Longwood series until the final game of the Georgia series. Her career-high 16 strikeouts came in the nine innings loss to Long Beach State. She opened the season with three straight double digit strikeout performances against Florida Gulf Coast, Illinois and USF and has eight total double digit strikeout games on the year. She has only given up more than two runs five times on the year.
“Coming from such a great region, it is an honor to be named to the first team,” Nelson said. “However, I will stick to crediting our offense with our team and my personal success this season.”
The Gator softball team, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, opens NCAA Regional play on Friday night a 6 p.m. against Georgia Tech at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. UCF and USF face off in the first game of the day at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for a single day adult pass or $25 for a full tournament adult pass. Admission for seniors and children 17 and under is $5 per day or $10 for a tournament pass. The first 200 UF students will be admitted free with the GatorOne ID. Gates open two hours prior to the first game of each day. For complete tournament information, please visit tournament central at www.gatorzone.com/softball/tour/NCAA/2008.
