Reigning Champion Gators Enter 2015 Season Wearing Biggest Bulls-Eye of All
Friday, February 6, 2015 | Softball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida softball team showed up for practice one day in October like it was any other fall season day. Only it wasn't.
The schedule of events was anything but normal. In scanning the practice plan, it was clear to the players they were looking at one of the most grueling workouts of the offseason, but that comes with the territory when playing for a coach as demanding and precise as Tim Walton.
So the Gators dressed and hit the field, with the first item a series of sprints. Group one stepped to the line, readied, then sped off on the whistle. About 10 strides into the outfield, Walton stopped them.
“No, no, no!” Get back here!”
They had no idea what was coming.
The team was instructed to return to the clubhouse, change and meet in 30 minutes at Splitz, a local bowling alley, to celebrate its 2014 NCAA championship.
A good time was had by all (as the photo to the right might suggest).
Then came the message.
“The next day, they came back and we told them that was it. That was the celebration. Now, it's over,” Walton said. “We had a new team and it was time to get into the routine we have around here.”
Now comes the next phase of that routine.
Eight months removed from a stunning run in the postseason and dominant roll through the Women's College World Series, Florida opens defense of its NCAA crown beginning Friday against Hampton, the first of five games at the USF Softball Classic in Tampa. The Gators return all but two key players from a team that went 55-12 overall and 10-1 during an NCAA Tournament highlighted by a ruthlessly efficient five-game sweep through the WCWS at Oklahoma City and capped by two decisive defeats of Southeastern Conference rival Alabama in the championship series.
Florida will open the 2015 season ranked No. 1, the first time with the preseason's top spot in the polls since 2009.
“They'll say we have a target on our back because we're No. 1,” said junior second baseman and leadoff batter Kelsey Stewart, a first-team All-American last season after batting .438 with 68 runs scored and 36 stolen bases. “But we're the Gators. We always have a target on our back.”
It'll just be a bit bigger this year. Sort of like the challenge of chasing a repeat.
All-America second baseman and leadoff hitter Kelsey Stewart is back for her junior season, along with her .408 career average and a slew of other starters for Gators.
The two players Walton must replace -- SEC Female Athlete of the Year and WCWS Most Valuable Player Hannah Rogers, plus stellar third baseman Stephanie Tofft -- happened to provide some irreplaceable moments last season. But this is college sports and stars move on. Walton and his staff brought in a freshman class of six players, four of whom figure to make an instant impact on a team Walton sees as the deepest in his 10 seasons at UF. Of the last nine, six ended in Oklahoma City.
“If you've built a program to have lasting and sustained success, you hope someone is there to step up and be what Hannah and Stephanie showed them they could be,” Walton said. “That's what we want our program to be about.”
UF has been about just that since Walton rocketed the Gators up the softball food chain with his first WCWS berth in 2008. That's where Florida's seasons have ended every year but one since.
But now he has a national championship banner at the Pressly Stadium, an achievement Walton described as “humbling” more than anything else. The appreciation for what it meant to him personally cast a wide net.
“Over time, you take for granted how hard it is to be good at what you do and you take for granted how hard it is for the players to be good at what they do,” he said. “But I think when you finish on top, you gain a great appreciation not only for all the people who took part in it, but the ones who didn't do it and how hard they worked to put themselves in position to do it.”
The Stacy Nelsons, Francesca Eneas and Michelle Moultries of great UF teams past didn't get the chance to experience the euphoria that Rogers and Tofft felt in OKC last June 3.
But now Stewart and the likes of Kirsti Merritt, Aubree Munro and Taylor Schwarz will try to experience it all over again.
As is the case for every softball team in every season, success must start in the circle, where the Gators have that huge void left by Rogers, the four-time All-American who got hot when it mattered most and buzz-sawed opposing batters in one of the most spectacular WCWS runs in the event's history. All she did was go 7-0 in NCAA play, post an ERA of 0.64 in seven complete games, six shutouts and a save in the Series-clincher.
Now what?
Well, now the pitching load falls to a combination of senior Lauren Haeger and sophomore Delanie Gourley, both of whom threw pivotal innings in the decisive Series win over Alabama, plus freshman Aleshia Ocasio out of St. Cloud, Fla. Which of the three evolves into the staff's go-to arm remains to be seen, but Haeger is the vet of the group (41 career wins), with her duties now confined only to pitching and designated player after stints at first base her first three seasons.
Gourley, a lefty with a wicked change-up, arrived at UF by way of California last year as one of the most decorated pitching recruits ever. She went 15-1, including the program's first no-hitter in NCAA play, and now appears on the brink of stardom. Ocasio came in as a utility player, but her focus, for now, will be pitching.
“As good as our pitching staff is will be as good as our team will be,” Walton said.
Florida did not just win the WCWS with great pitching. The Gators had timely (sometimes powerful) hitting and terrific (sometimes, web-gem worthy) defense, as well. With the exception of Tofft, all of those bats and gloves return.
Schwarz, a junior, will start at first base, Stewart at second alongside senior shortstop Katie Medina (left), with junior Taylore Fuller getting the first crack at third. Talented freshmen Janell Wheaton and Nicole DeWitt will be platooned at first and third, respectively, as they're folded into the system.
“I think all of us are just excited to be a part of this program,” Wheaton, yet another hotshot Californian (one of six) on the roster, said of the freshman class. “We've all dreamed of being in the College World Series, but they've been there and won it.”
Added Stewart: “The freshmen have kept us humble this year. They haven't been to the College World Series. They don't have an SEC championship. They don't have what we have, but they want it just as badly as we wanted it. Now, we want it together. We have that goal.”
Merritt will anchor the outfield from center, flanked by a combination of DeWitt, sophomore Justine McLean, seniors Bailey Castro and Briana Little, plus sophomore Chelsea Herndon.
Munro, the junior catcher, started 48 of the 59 games she played last season. Not only is she an outstanding defender and field general, but she upped her batting average from .145 as a freshman to .285 as a sophomore. She figures to be even better this spring.
Haeger has the experience at DP (and power, with 52 career home runs), but Wheaton and freshman Kayli Kvistad will get some swings there too, depending on how Walton goes on the attack. And attack he will.
Think about this: in one fall game, the Gators hit four straight home runs and a few innings later reached on six consecutive bunts.
Yes, the Gators are deep -- very deep -- and appear stocked for another run at a ring.
No, they're taking nothing for granted.
“We're going to be really good, but I've stopped comparing one team from the next. Just when you think you've have it all figured out -- this is the best recruit, or this kid can do this and that kid can't do that -- it doesn't happen that,” said Walton, pictured at right with the NCAA championship hardware. “You have to go play. You have to go win.”
This coach, these players, this program, they're pretty good at doing that.
