GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The end to the careers of Florida softball stars
Amanda Lorenz and
Kelly Barnhill, what with their passionate and teary-eyed soliloquies of what it has meant to be a Gator, made for some emotional post-game theater Saturday night at the Women's College World Series.
They defined the program's culture and everything prideful about wearing the orange and blue.
Now comes the really hard part.
You don't replace Lorenz and Barnhill. Period. You do, however, have to move on, and no one is more in tune with that that fact, and the bigger-picture state of the program, than the coach.
Tim Walton, after all, has seen many an iconic player exit, but this transition has a little different feel to it because the individual contributions of Lorenz and Barnhill were so disproportionate to the rest of the teammates.
Walton was candid about it.
"We have some major holes to fill — and the expectations aren't changing," Walton said Sunday, the day after UF was eliminated from the WCWS with a 15-3 loss to Alabama, as the Gators ended the season at 49-18, falling short of the 50-win win threshold for the first time since 2012. "We have an extremely long way to go between now and next February to be relevant again."
Using the rigors of Southeastern Conference play as a barometer, the Gators hit .214 against league opponents. That ranked last in the conference. Lorenz hit a stellar .444 (and also had 28 walks), but the rest of the UF offense batted a combined .188. She had 20 percent of Florida's hits in league play, along with 24 percent of the Gators' total bases.
As for Barnhill, if there was a meaningful game, basically, she pitched it. She started the last 11 games of the season, and until the Crimson Tide rocked her for six runs and a first-inning exit in Oklahoma City she had recorded 202 of the previous 211 outs of the postseason, yielding the circle for only three innings of Game 2 of the NCAA regional after the Gators took a 6-0 lead on Boise State in what became a quick mercy-rule victory. The rest of the staff —
Elizabeth Hightower,
Natalie Lugo,
Katie Chronister and
Danni Farley — is slated to be back, but those four combined for an ERA against conference opponents of 3.31 and allowed opposing league batters to hit .275.
Context: Barnhill's ERA against the league was 2.59 and hitters batted just .184. She also led the conference in strikeouts.
The disparity of those Lorenz/Barnhill numbers were a big reason why, at one point midway through the season, Walton thought he might have an NCAA regional-caliber team whose season would end on the road somewhere. Ultimately, the numbers screamed to the fact the 2019 Gators maxed out in overcoming the program's most SEC losses since the 2002 season by winning the conference tournament, being awarded a Super Regional host site, and reaching the WCWS for the 10th time in 12 seasons.
"We overachieved, there's no question," Walton said. "People say, this [was] one of the best coaching jobs I've had in my tenure, but it goes both directions. I recruited the athletes, coached the athletes, created the expectations. Ultimately, we weren't able to deliver on quite a few of those things. I think it goes back to the training, back to what we've done to get to this point in a program. But, again, you go back to a lot of things that we have to continue to do a little bit better. We will. We've already made the list."
Of the players slated to return, the Gators will build around a core group of designated hitter
Kendyl Lindaman (.325, 15 home runs, 54, RBI), second baseman
Hannah Adams (.284, 13 doubles, 28 RBI), catcher
Jordan Roberts (.262, 9 homers, 36 RBI), shortstop
Sophia Reynoso (.251), utility player
Jaimie Hoover (.243, 7 homers, 33 RBI) and outfielder
Jade Caraway (.221). It's worth noting that Lindaman's production tailed off late in the season, while Adams' had some nice gains at the plate. UF will need more from more.
Kendyl Lindaman is greeted at home by teammates following her solo homer in the fifth inning in UF's season-ending loss to Alabama at the WCWS.
The staff has high hopes for speedy and athletic infielder/outfielder
Cheyenne Lindsey (.232 in just 56 at-bats), who was used sparingly during the season while coming off reconstructive knee surgery last summer, but figures to be at 100 percent for her sophomore year.
The addition of Michigan State transfer Charla Echols, out of Newman, Ga., will help. She hit .359 with 15 doubles and seven homers for the Spartans during 2019 while playing catcher, third and center. Her versatility should provide Walton with some options in the field, but her offense will be most welcome.
Among UF's incoming freshman class, catcher Julia Cottrill, out of Stillwater, Okla., and pitcher/hitter Rylee Trlicek, from Hallettsville, Texas, will get close looks, even before arriving on campus. Walton will coach the two as part of his USA Softball Junior Women's National Team duties this summer. A couple in-state arrivals, outfielder Mia Buffano (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and infielder Baylee Goddard (Orange Park, Fla.) figure to be in the mix, as well.
And don't rule out more help — maybe even of the instant-impact variety — via the transfer portal.
"Most every kid in the transfer portal last year had interest in us, but it's about finding the right fit," Walton said. "Players transfer for a reason, so you have to understand their reasons and figure out what the fit is for them and for us."
The expectations stay the same, so the work begins now.
