Softball Coaches Named NFCA Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year
Monday, June 30, 2008 | Softball
For the second year in a row, Florida Softball Head Coach Tim Walton and assistants Jennifer Rocha and Jenny Gladding have been named the Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Walton, who was also named the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, oversees all functions of the program and works primarily with the Gator outfielders and hitters. He guided the Gator hitters to set school records in nearly every offensive category including batting average, slugging percentage, hits, runs scored and RBI. Under Walton's tutelage in the outfield, sophomore Francesca Enea (Woodland Hills, Calif.) successfully transitioned from catcher to outfielder and junior Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) moved from second base to outfield, with both earning All-America honors.
Rocha is Florida's pitching coach. She helped the Gator pitching staff to break nearly every Florida team and individual pitching record this season. Rocha worked with junior two-time All-American Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) who set many individual single season records, including ERA and strikeouts, and freshman Stephanie Brombacher (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) who finished the season with a 20-0 record, the first undefeated record in school history.
Gladding works primarily with the Gator infielders. This season she coached an infield that started two freshman in the middle infield, a first-year starting sophomore at third and a junior at first. With Gladding's guidance, junior first baseman Ali Gardiner (Waccabuc, N.Y.) and freshman Aja Paculba (Wildomar, Calif.) earned All-America honors.
Florida finished the season with an NCAA-record 70 victories and advanced to the program's first Women's College World Series after capturing the first Southeastern Conference Tournament title. The Gators had five players named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Southeast Region team with all five moving on to earn Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America honors. Those same five players also earned Easton All-Americahonors. Nelson and Enea were named to the Women's College World Series All-Tournament team, while Gardiner led all players in the WCWS with seven hits and had the second-best batting average in the tournament. Nelson was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year and was named to the All-SEC first-team along with Gardiner and Waleszonia. Paculba was named to the second team, while she, Brombacher, Megan Bush (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) and Tiffany DeFelice (Coral Springs, Fla.) were named to the All-Freshman team. Nelson, Gardiner, Paculba and Waleszonia were also named to the All-Defensive team. The Gators went 27-1 in SEC play to take the league title with the best record in league history.
In addition to their on the field accomplishments, eight Gators earned SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades, Enea, Gardiner, junior Brittany Handy (Gainesville, Fla.), junior Kristina Hilberth (Dunedin, Fla.), junior Brooke Johnson (Lakeland, Fla.), Nelson, senior Mary Ratliff (Mt. Sterling, Ky.),and Waleszonia. Nelson became Florida's first softball player to be both a first-team All-American and a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Ratliff was named to the SEC Good Works team and the entire Gator team volunteered many hours of community service through Children's Miracle Network, Shands and Shands at AGH, Habitat for Humanity and the Office of Student Life's Goodwill Gators program.
The NFCA awards coaching staff of the year honors in each of its eight regions. The regional winners are voted on by the coaches in that region. A national coaching staff of the year is then selected by the NFCA. Arizona State was named the National Coaching Staff of the Year after taking the Women's College World Series title. A complete listing of the regional winners is below.
Great Lakes Region
University of Michigan (52-8) Head Coach Carol Hutchins, Associate Head Coach Bonnie Tholl, Assistant Coach Jennifer Brundage, Volunteer Assistant Coach Becky Marx
Mid-Atlantic Region
Hofstra University (45-13 Head Coach Bill Edwards, Associate Head Coach Larissa Anderson, Assistant Coach Ryan Realmuto
Mideast Region
Purdue University (35-23) Head Coach Kim Maher, Assistant Coaches Linda Garza and Boo Gillette •
Midwest Region
Texas A&M University (57-10) Head Coach Jo Evans, Associate Head Coaches Joy Jackson and Mary Joe Firnbach
Northeast Region
Virginia Tech University (49-19) Head Coach Scot Thomas, Assistant Coaches Al Brauns and Tiffany McVay
Pacific Region
Arizona State (66-5) Head Coach Clint Myers, Assistant Coaches Kirsten Voak and Robert Wagner
South Region
University of Alabama (55-8) Head Coach Patrick Murphy, Assistant Coaches Alyson Habetz and Vann Studeman.
Southeast Region
University of Florida (70-5) Head Coach Tim Walton, Assistant Coaches Jennifer Rocha and Jenny Gladding.
West Region
University of Nevada (44-18) Head Coach Michelle Gardner, Assistant Coaches Melanie Meuchel, Annie Stevens and Andy Dominique
