UF's big bats answer Walton's challenge
Saturday, May 16, 2015 | Softball, Chris Harry
“I'd like to see the Kirsti Merritts, the Bailey Castros, Lauren Haegers and Taylore Fullers, just for them to be RBI-getters. Get out there and drive balls in the gap. That's what they're good at.” -- Florida softball coach Tim Walton after Friday night's NCAA game.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- To understand top-seeded Florida's performance in Saturday's second-round NCAA Regional game you have to go back to Friday night's first-round game. 
And the above quote from the Gators coach.
Tim Walton (left) had watched four of his most reliable upperclassmen and best run-producing hitters combine to go 4-for-34 over the previous four games, with UF going just 2-2 in those outings. Walton's remarks came after the Gators had defeated Florida A&M 6-0, an outcome minus any real mashing from players he needs making big-time contact, especially this time of year.
Now, fast-forward to Saturday's date against Hofstra, champions of the Colonial Athletic Association, winners of 12 of its last 13 games, ranked 13th nationally in RPI, and armed with a pair of pretty good pitchers.
Junior Kirsti Merrit, the second batter in UF's first inning, smoked a double off the left field wall. The next hitter, senior Lauren Haeger, bounced a RBI-single into left field. After senior Bailey Castro popped out (more on her later) and freshman Nicole DeWitt reached on an infield single, junior Taylore Fuller parked a two-out, two-strike pitch over the fence in left-center and just like that the Gators were up by four runs.
About two hours later, Haeger polished off yet another outstanding pitching performance with a 7-0 shutout victory that moved UF (52-6) into Sunday's championship bracket against Florida Atlantic (39-18-1), where one win will bring another home Super Regional to Pressly Stadium next weekend.
Welcome back, Gator bats.
Senior Bailey Castro is all smiles after smashing a solo homer Saturday in the sixth inning to cap UF's 7-0 defeat of Hofstra in second-round NCAA Tournament play. [Photo by Jim Burgess]
“When we get hit, we come back and hit harder,” Fuller said after crushing her 12th homer and pushing her season's RBI total to 51, second-best on the team. “If someone is going to take a shot at us or criticize what we're doing, we're going to come back and prove you wrong. We're going to show we are the hitters who can produce runs for our team.”
The one who made issue of the missing bats, of course, was Walton, who has proven season after season to be masterful when it comes to pushing the right buttons with his players.
The Gators, with the bulk of their roster back from last season's first NCAA championship squad, are coming off another Southeastern Conference regular-season title and just happened to find themselves in a lull at a time of year where's lulls can end a season.
He made a few remarks that clearly caught a few players' attention. About 18 hours later, he walked off the field Saturday after watching his team spread around 15 hits, most of good, solid contact. Two came from Merritt, three from Haeger, two more from Fuller, and one from Castro, who lashed a solo home run in the sixth inning, just for good measure.
“Being 3-4-5 hitters, the [No. ] 6 hitter, we are the RBI producers,” said Castro, now with a team-best 16 homers. “We were struggling a little bit. We talked this morning. Postseason [can come down to] one run at a point of the game, so whatever it takes. Today we just tried to step it up. The bulk of the lineup just tried to put better swings on better pitches.”
That's exactly what Walton talked about in his post-game media chat Friday (and presumably again with his players Saturday morning). Against the Pride, the Gators walked to the plate and, basically on cue, answered his challenge.
“Really, really happy with the way we scored five runs with two outs. That's the nature of the postseason. You're going to have to do a good job of getting hits with two strikes and two outs,” said Walton, whose club was 1-for-12 versus FAMU with runners in scoring position, but went 2-for-2 in that situation in the first inning alone, with Fuller's homer the big blow. “If you had a camera on me, I was pretty excited about that hit.”
We didn't have a camera on him, but if we did it would have revealed a very animated fist pump.
Walton's words worked.
They usually do.
