GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The regular season closed Saturday with Florida's fifth-year and superstar second baseman
Hannah Adams having missed the final 14 games (save one pinch-run appearance) of the 2022 campaign after injuring her throwing hand April 15 at Ole Miss. Sunday marked the first time she was cleared to swing a bat since removing her cast the previous week.
Sunday also was Mother's Day.
Tim Walton got a text at 8:10 a.m. It was Adams letting her coach know she was on her way to the batting cages.
"We worked really hard to make sure I'd be back," Adams said.
On Wednesday night, Adams received a fitting and roaring ovation from the home crowd during pregame introductions of UF's second-round matchup against Texas A&M in the first Southeastern Conference Tournament to be played at Pressly Stadium since 2005.
"When I saw her up on the stage I got a little misty-eyed just seeing what she's put into it getting back for her first game," Walton said after the
fifth-seeded Gators' 4-1 victory over the 12th-seeded Aggies. "It's just a life's lesson. Never take for granted the opportunities to play the game because you never know when those opportunities are going to be taken away."
Adams, the two-time first-team All-SEC selection and one of the best defensive players in program history, wasted no time making an impact in her return to action. After speedy
Kendra Falby led off the Florida first with a slap infield single, Adams stepped in for her first plate appearance in 26 days and promptly executed a perfect bunt that did not just advance Falby a base, but moved her all the way third. Adams and Falby then teamed for a double-steal, with Adams baiting Aggies catcher Lee Haley into a throw to second that allowed Falby to score from third for the first of her team's three runs that inning.
And the Gators (42-15) were off.
Off to what in this postseason, of course, remains to be seen. For now, it's a SEC Tournament quarterfinal date against fourth-seeded Kentucky (35-16) Thursday at 5 p.m. In a perfect orange-and-blue world, Florida would stick around a while this weekend and improve its seeding for the NCAA Tournament and chance to host a Super Regional. Whatever the case, the Gators will be playing next week in the big dance and the likelihood of staying on the floor for a couple extra numbers increased the instant Adams was back in the lineup.
"It felt really good, obviously," said Adams, who went 2-for-3, with an RBI single in the second inning (she also had a hard-hit line-out on a great defensive play by the Aggies' shortstop) to go with a trio of assists in the field, including a lunging, one-handed line drive to rob an A&M batter of a hit. "Missing games is not what I wanted for my last season, but [now] I think [I'm] just embracing every moment. I worked really hard when I was sitting [out] and I was making sure I was getting stuff done to be ready when I came back. Seeing that pay off was good. I'm trying to take in everything I can. Obviously, it was my goal to have an impact on the game as soon as I came back."
The other dugout certainly took note, with A&M coach Jo Evans commenting (with a touch of sarcasm) how fortunate the Aggies (29-26) were to be on the team on the other side of the Adams return. A "baller," Evans called the Gator stalwart, after watching Adams take the field for her 240th career game (all starts, by the way).
"I'm looking at my [Adams scouting] spray chart and there are so many at-bats there that I've run out of room to scribble," Evans said. "I feel like we've seen her for 10 years, but just a tip of the cap to the way she plays the game. She's someone who really makes them go."
Asked about the tangible effects of Adams' return, Walton mentioned how settled he felt just seeing her anchoring the defense and captaining things from her spot between first and second.
Asked about what having Adams' bat back in the lineup, Walton just laughed. The answer was obvious.
"It is what it is," Walton said of his career .330 hitter. "Quite honestly, most people probably bat her ninth [this game]. She hasn't hit in three weeks. [But] I had to get as many at-bats as possible, no matter the outcome of the game, to get her ready for next week."
Frankly, she looked pretty ready, already.
Or as Falby, the freshman, put it, "The way she played, it felt like she never left."
