The home plate section, open concourse and and expanded press box make for quite the new backdrop at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, home to the Florida softball team. The Gators are expected to move into their new digs sometime in early February.
Sparkling New Softball Era Inches Closer for Walton, Gators
Friday, December 14, 2018 | Softball, Chris Harry
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He hasn't gone out of his way to drive by just for the sake of doing so. Given that his Florida softball team has been temporarily relocated to a trailer and two ball fields at the Southwest Rec Center, Tim Walton has had plenty of drive-by opportunities to check out the progress being made on the long-overdue renovation project of Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Earlier this week, though, Walton did make a special trip to the place.
Along with his wife, Samantha, he parked in a spot where they could take a sweeping panorama of the $15 million project that is now in the home stretch.
"I gave her a virtual tour from my truck," Walton said.
In about six weeks (give or a take), virtual will become reality.
The Gators open the 2019 season at the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament in Tampa the weekend of Feb. 8-10, then will return home to usher in their shiny new era with a ribbon-cutting and dedication game Feb. 12 against the Japanese National Team. The first official regular-season game will be the next day, Feb. 13, against North Florida.
All the elements that have made game days (and nights) at Pressly Stadium so special will still be there. They'll just be better.
Set to enter his 14th season, Coach Tim Walton (right) is 722-149 at Florida, for a winning percentage of .829, to go with seven Southeastern Conference titles, nine Women's College World Series berths and two national championships. And in 2019, he'll have one of the finest softball facilities in the country.
"We've taken the same great atmosphere created by the fans and — we haven't changed it — we've upgraded it," said Walton, who during the offseason agreed to a 10-year contract extension that figures to keep him around a while to enjoy the new, splashy amenities. "A lot of times, when you build something new, it changes things. But everything we have for the fans will just be 100 percent better, and that includes the close proximity to the players and the game itself."
The most pronounced and visible "upgrades" will be the expanded and raised press box, which has been elevated to allow fans in the concourse to view the action on the field at all times. Gone are the bleachers, replaced with all chair-back style seats, with shade structure to shield the sun from large sections in the stands. There will be berms in the outfield for general-admission seating, as well.
The coaches will have on-site office space, allowing them to move from the Lemerand Center a mile away, while the players will enjoy bigger locker and training rooms, expanded dugouts, a larger lounge, plus more areas to meet and study.
"I'm going on my 14th season here," Walton said. "In my 13-plus years, I can count on one hand the number of times an athlete has stopped by my office to say, 'Hi.' "
They may have to make appointments now. The place will be bustling, with basically one-stop-shopping for all things UF softball, with the exception of the weight room. The players will still train in the south end zone of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. They'll gladly deal with it.
The new press box (left) and the UF softball team's new offices and team facility (right), taken from right field.
Senior outfielder, slugger and two-time first-team All-American Amanda Lorenz said the Gators won't know what to do with all the new space they're about to inherit, especially after being crammed into that SW Rec trailer the last few months. Lorenz, however, believes the team will file into its new digs with an appreciation that's been two decades in the making; all the way back to the inception of the UF softball program in 1995, followed by its inaugural season two years later.
"It's a really exciting time to be in our program," Lorenz said. "It makes me thankful for the people that came before us and helped lay the foundation and over the years showed everyone that maybe we deserve a little more. I'm grateful, I'm thankful and can't wait to take advantage of it all."
Walton basically echoed that sentiment, but also praised everyone in his program currently for the professionalism shown while putting up with a seven-month run of inconvenience, albeit one with a major payoff on the back end.
"We've all been excited and anticipating this since back when it was announced a few years ago," Walton said. "But what has really impressed me is the humility shown by our athletes with where they've been the last few months; how not one person in our program — player, coach or staff — has complained about the situation. It's just been really good to step back and admire the process, while also going back to our grass roots and getting to work."
Amanda Lorenz
The 2018 Gators went 56-11, became the second program in SEC history to win four straight league titles and ended their season at the Women's College World Series for the ninth time since making its first trip to Oklahoma City in 2008. UF said goodbye to a remarkable class of senior stalwarts —Nicole DeWitt, Kayli Kvistad, Aleshia Ocasio and Janell Wheaton — but in Lorenz and fellow senior Kelly Barnhill return the SEC player and pitcher of the year, respectively.
Also back will be NCAA Super Regional hero Jordan Matthews, an outstanding middle-infield combo in shortstop Sophia Reynoso and second baseman Hannah Adams, plus catcher Jordan Roberts, who started 32 games and hit a pair of homers at the WCWS.
Pitcher Danni Farley headlines Walton's annual class of highly ranked freshmen, but the Gators also got an early Christmas present last week when two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Kendyl Lindaman, a catcher who bashed 40 homers in two seasons at Minnesota, announced she was transferring to UF in the spring. Upon her enrollment, Lindaman will be eligible to play immediately.
Her first game will be at a state-of-the-art facility.
The Gators can't wait to get in there, but doing so won't be a problem. They've waited this long; they can wait a little longer.
It'll make that move-in day all the better.
"I'm really excited, but I'm also going to be patient about it," Walton said. "We want to make sure we give everybody the room they need to get the job done."
After that, the on-field work will be fantastic hands.
