OKLAHOMA CITY -- A thirst, desire and drive to want it all and be it all -- the expectations, the pressure and everything associated with being the centerpiece of a championship-caliber team -- were things Lauren Haeger craved for her senior year. She told Florida coach Tim Walton as much in the run-up to the 2015 season, lobbying to be the one in the circle in the games that mattered most.
Like Thursday.
Haeger's first game since being crowned NCAA Player of the Year started by shutting down Tennessee 1-2-3 in the first inning and was followed mere minutes later by a two-out solo home run that marked her first round-tripper in three trips to the Women's College World Series. Before 1:30 p.m. local time, Haeger had handcuffed the Volunteers for a 7-2 victory, allowing just one hit while collecting two herself, and moved the Gators (56-6) into the winner's bracket.
“I think she answered the call,” Walton said.
Yeah, you can say that.
Haeger is now 29-1 on the season with an ERA of 1.27 that actually went up Thursday, thanks to Megan Geer's two-run homer in the UT fourth that halted a streak of 32 2/3 innings -- spanning five NCAA games -- that Haeger did not allow a run. She also went 2-for-2, scored two runs, was hit by a pitch to set up another run scored and walked once. At the plate, she's batting .345 with 17 homers and 65 RBI for the season. Haeger already is the first player in college softball history to hit 60 homers and pitch 60 wins. She won her 70th Thursday in the circle and needs just one more homer to be the first at 70-70.
She is the best player in college softball, period, and has put herself in position to reach all the goals she -- and her team -- set for herself back in January.
Think about this: In Haeger's first six games at WCWS (three in 2013; three in 2014), she went 2-for-22. In her last three (the two-game sweep of Alabama in the '14 title series; and the '15 opener) she's combined to go 7-for-10.
Clearly, she belongs here. Just as clearly, she knows it.
“This is our third time back and for me I went out there it felt a lot different than it had before,” Haeger said. “I felt so comfortable.”
Looked that way, also.
Senior Lauren Haeger clubbed her 17th home run of the season in the first inning against the Vols and later added a single and scored a second run in UF's 7-2 opening round victory Thursday.
Out of Peoria, Ariz., Haeger was just a high school sophomore yet one of the top prospects in the country when she called Walton, who was in California with his 2009 UF team, to commit to the Gators. The coach was ecstatic then, more so now.
Getting Haeger to this point wasn't an automatic. She had to learn how to be great at the collegiate level by learning how to prepare. And compete.
Walton recalled earlier this week of how he used to watch Haeger throw standard bullpen sessions (maybe 45 pitches over 15 minutes) and hear her talking to the catcher about all kinds of things; none of it softball.
“I'd tell her she wasn't putting in the time and her focus wasn't what it needed to be,” Walton said. “She'd insist her bullpens were fine.”
Pitching coach Jennifer Rocha's mound visits in past years were often of a challenging nature.
“Let's go! You've got to be better. We have to execute this pitch right now!”
Now, Haeger's locked in during bullpen and speaking to Rocha in games before being spoken to.
“I've got this ... and I'm throwing a curve.”
"I love it," Rocha said. "Her confidence feeds the team."
Her passion to win fuels it.
The Volunteers handed Haeger her lone loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat that ousted the Gators from the Southeastern Conference Tournament earlier this month. Tennessee, in fact, actually owned a five-game winning streak against UF coming into the WCWS.
On Thursday, Florida was up 3-0 after homers from Haeger and freshman Kayli Kvistad, but when Haeger hit a batter then served up a towering blast to Geer. It made the score 3-2. The Vols section of the stadium was jumping.
Haeger's heartbeat was not.
“I just had to buckle down,” she said.
The next 10 Vols went down in order and the Gators won that all-important WCWS opener, the one Walton believes is pivotal. No team wants to be dumped into the loser's side after Day 1, where the pressure and anxiety are raised exponentially.
“Lauren hitting that home run in the first inning really set the tone, [then] she really went out there and pitched well,” Walton said. “Overall, I thought we played clean. We played very poised, very controlled.”
The Gators played with a purpose and followed their leader. Haeger has wanted to grab the ball and bat and seize the moment when the stakes are their highest since the season began. Well before that, actually.
She wants it all and everything comes with it.
Her coaches and teammates are only too happy to oblige.
