Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first time around, Florida did not recruit Charla Echols. 

The second time, the Gators made up for it. 

It was May of 2019 and Echols' freshman year at Michigan State had just ended. The Spartans went 16-34 and won just four of 22 games in Big Ten Conference play. For her rookie collegiate season, Echols hit a robust .344, which was second on the team behind her older sister, Ebonee, who was a senior. At that time, Charla Echols, the all-league freshman catcher, took measure of her situation — sister graduating; Georgia girl in the Michigan cold; great player at a great school, but in struggling program; a thirst for the softball big time — and decided to make a change. 

The same day she put her dorm room stuff into her father's car for the trip down Interstate-75, Echols put her name in the NCAA's transfer portal. Before they hit the Ohio state line a dozen or so schools had called. 

"It was overwhelming," Echols said. 

UF was the very first of what became a lengthy list of heavy-hitting programs to reach out. The Gators, specifically Coach Tim Walton, were also the most aggressive. Maybe better than that, they were the most accommodating. 

Florida had just completed the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and had a Super Regional against rival Tennessee mere days away. A couple other programs were in the same position and told Echols that, while they were very interested, they were focused on the all-important upcoming best-of-three series and shot at a Women's College World Series berth. The Gators, though no less focused, were ready to multi-task. Walton invited Echols and her father down that very week. And away they went. 

During an official visit moment to themselves, Echols and her dad walked onto the patio of Walton's office — the one that overlooks left field at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium — and surveyed the surroundings. They'd gotten the A-plus tour. They'd heard Walton's pitch. 

"She looked at me and said, 'Dad, this is it!' Charles Echols recalled. "She actually had a couple visits set up for the next week, but her mind was made up. And I think it's the best decision she's ever made." 

Nearly two years (and a one pandemic stoppage) to the day later, Echols is about to realize another step of her dream to play on softball's grandest stage. Instead of peering down on KSP from above, Echols will be bearing down from her spot at third base Friday afternoon when the fourth-seeded Gators (42-9) open NCAA Tournament play in their host regional against South Florida (29-17), the bracket's fourth seed. Baylor (27-21) and South Alabama (30-19) round out the field, with the survivor of the double-elimination format moving into next weekend's Super Regional round. 

Upping the atmosphere ante, the NCAA announced Wednesday that stadiums can use state guidelines to determine fan capacity, meaning the place should be rockin'.

"This is my first [NCAA] experience," said Echols, the 2021 first-team All-Southeastern Conference junior from Newnan, Ga. "I don't know what KSP is like in the postseason, but I'm excited to get in there and find out." The feeling from the home fans figures to be mutual. In 2020, they got to see a little bit of Echols (as in 19 home games worth) before COVID-19 shut everything down. At the time, Echols was leading the team with a .417 average to go with eight homers and 28 RBI. 

This year, the orange-and-blue faithful got 35 games of limited-capacity attendance, but Walton got a full 51 out his sweet-swinging No. 3 hitter. To date, Echols is batting .384 (again, tops on the squad), with a team-best 14 homers and 53 RBI. Those numbers, though, don't show perhaps the most astounding statistic for Echols when she's in the box: two strikeouts (2!) in 146 plate appearances versus 30 walks. That's the same number of K's she tallied in 24 fewer games last season. 

"She has a great eye and is just incredibly patient," Walton said. "Throw a nasty pitch, she's fouling it off. Make a mistake, she's hitting it over the fence." 

Echols' swing is a thing of beauty. It's not a majestic, Ken Griffey-like swing, but more a tight and compact one, ala Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs, Walton said, and allows her to spray lasers to all fields. Her ability to barrel up so many pitches, though, gives her that extra power. 

"You see a lot of hitters and they're swings may look simple or may look complicated. She keeps hers simple," said teammate/slugger Kendyl Lindaman, who bats behind Echols in the UF lineup. "She has a really good eye for the ball. Understanding what a strike is is something that is hard to teach, but she's got it." 

Probably was born with it. 

Both her parents, Charles and Neicy, were outstanding athletes growing up in Georgia. Both played basketball. Both played on the diamond. Dad's baseball exploits got him inducted into his high school's hall of fame, while mom played junior-college softball in Alabama. Charla's oldest sister, Cherae, played softball at Columbus State, while Ebonee set the Big Ten career record for triples (25) with the Spartans. 

The family baby didn't just fall in line, she became the best of the lot. 

"She was a natural," Charles said. 
 

But also ambitious. The first Christmas gift her parents recall Charla asking for was a set of catcher's gear. She not only would go watch her sisters play, but watch video of their teams play, then come home and imitate their on-field traits. 

When it came her turn to get on the field, 4-year-old Charla went to tee-ball tryouts and declined use of the tee. She wanted the ball pitched to her. 

Things accelerated from there. 

"I remember her mom telling me that one day Charla was going to be better than Ebonee, and she did end up being the best," Charles said. "I give her credit. She loved the game, really worked hard and did a lot of it on her own. Being good wasn't good enough. She wanted to be the best." 

The youngest Echols was good enough in high school to attract modest early attention, but committed to Michigan State as a ninth-grader because her sister was there as a freshman. During that time, Walton actually saw her some in club tournaments.

"When you're looking at a ninth-grader or 10th-grader, you're asking, 'How tall is she? How strong is she? How fast is she?' Nothing really jumped out," Walton said. "She was just a good softball player."

Who was hell-bent on getting better and better, which she did. Echols club team won the 2018 PGF national championship, thanks to her game-winning hit in the title game. Some late high-major attention came Echols' way (including from Georgia), but she stayed true to her pledge to the Spartans and made an instant impact there and eventually became a standout player for Team USA's U-19 squad. 

Ultimately, though, she wanted more. 

"I wanted to win," Echols said.  The Gators, she knew, would provide that opportunity, as well as a chance to grow her game. Echols' father was particularly concerned about Charla finding a landing spot where she would improve on defense, which was a symphony to Walton's ears, given the program's year-in, year-out defensive numbers that rate at the top of all Division I statistics. 

When she entered the UF fold, Echols' effervescence was an instant hit in the club house ("There's just a presence about her," Lindaman said. "She lights up any room she walks into."). Echols, in turn, was struck by the overall and daily attention to detail. 

"The preparation and the training," she said. "I didn't how much it takes, day in and day out, to really get prepared for this level. At Michigan State, we didn't use all the technology and the scouting as much as we do here. It's really helped my game a lot."

Echols mostly caught with a little center field mixed at MSU. She's been UF's starting third baseman since setting foot on campus and made just four errors there this season on her way to being named to the SEC's All-Defensive Team.  

The biggest damage, of course, has been done at the plate, where Echols' .767 slugging percentage is nearly .160 points higher than the next Gator. She also tops the team in total bases with 112. 

Last month, in UF's final regular-season road series at Missouri, Echols had a couple non-productive at-bats with runners on base, as well as a couple hits with no one, prompting her father to ask, in jest, a question? 

Are you ever going to get another hit that matters?

The next weekend, Echols smashed a walk-off, three-run homer in the first game of the Texas A&M series, setting the stage for a three-game sweep that gave the Gators a share of the SEC crown. 

Welcome to the big time, young lady. 

"I call her an 'assassin,' " Walton said. "She's got a mean streak when she's in the box."

Enjoy the postseason.