Centerfielder Kendra Falby hit .402 as a sophomore last season.
Falby Braced For Big Year, Too
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 | Softball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Wherever she lived growing up, Kendra Falby had a big yard to play in. Specifically, to run around in. And one look at Falby, the speedy and long-legged University of Florida outfielder, it's clear that she was made to run.
In time, the yards she called her own became softball fields, where she's burned up the Southeastern Conference base paths for the Gators the last couple years while also flashing her share of circus catches by chasing down balls in center field.
"My role with the team and the way I play softball is a little different," Falby said. "I'm not a player who's going to go up and just hit bombs. But I think our fans, I think Gator Nation and the people who follow our team, they know about me."
Check the calendar, UF softball followers. It's 2024 and the season opens Friday against Oregon State in the USF-Rawlings Invitational at Tampa. Not just the next season, but the season Coach Tim Walton and the passionate orange and blue faithful have hotly anticipated for years, what with the arrival of arguably the most decorated freshman class in the team's history. Pitchers Keagan Rothrock and Ava Brown – the 2022 and 2023 Gatorade National Softball Players of the Year, respectively – will be talked about plenty. Ditto, Mia Williams, the infield slugger and daughter of former UF and NBA standout Jason Williams, who joined Rothrock and Brown at the top of the '24 national prospect rankings.
Oh, and then there's shortstop Skylar Wallace, the 2023 NFCA Player of the Year, who is back after setting a Florida single-season record by hitting .447.
Yeah, it figures to be a lively spring at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, with expectations sky-high, from Wallace, the team's oldest player, down to the brand-new shiny rookies, as well.
Make no mistake, though. They'll be talking about Kendra Falby, as well.
"The kid is electric," Walton said.
Or as fifth-year senior outfielder Baylee Goddard put it: "She doesn't fly under our radar. We see her everyday."
Kendra Falby is not just a slapper anymore.
Falby, the junior from Odessa, Fla., has started all 127 games of her UF career. As a freshman, she hit .392 and helped the Gators reach the 2022 Women's College World Series. Last year, she upped her average to .403 with an on-base percentage of .464. In two seasons, her career average stands at .397, backed by 160 hits, 119 runs and 63 stolen bases on 71 attempts.
"It's not fun playing against her in scrimmages," junior infielder Reagan Walsh said.
Which means it must be exactly the opposite watching Falby from the same dugout.
The jump she made as an All-SEC Freshman selection to second-team All-SEC honors was impressive, especially given she now sits at No. 3 on UF's all-time batting average list behind Amanda Lorenz (.407), who was an assistant during Falby's freshman year, and just ahead of Kelsey Stewart (.391), who was Falby's favorite player when she first took a liking to softball about a decade ago.
"She was just slapping and bunting back then," Walton said.
Falby's parents were athletes. Her dad played hockey in Canada before moving to Florida. Her mom played softball and basketball growing up. She was destined to play something, so she pretty much tried everything.
"It started with ballet," Falby said. "That lasted about two weeks."
Yeah, she caught it.
Then came (in no particular order) dips into soccer, basketball, golf, cross country track-and-field (she placed seventh in the long jump at the state meet), until a friend suggested they play softball, which she immediately loved.
The first time little Kendra held at bat, her hands gripped the handle backward. The other way didn't feel right. So her dad flipped her body around and – voila! – Falby was batting lefty and, with her speed, had an instant head start to first base.
In time, her focus turned from slapping to hitting and coaches on the travel ball circuit took notice. As a seventh-grader – about the same time Walter got his first look at her – the Falby family paid a visit to UF and she fell for the place like she fell for the game a few years before.
"I'd never had a dream school. I just played softball because I loved it," said Falby, who growing up in the Tampa area spent a lot of times at University of South Florida softball games. "When I came here, it's just hard to explain. It just felt right. My mom went to Florida State, but she was like, 'Don't worry about me.' Go where you want." Falby wil be chomping in '24, too.
Falby committed to UF as a ninth-grader, then became one of the state's best players at Land O' Lakes Sunlake High. In 2018, she won a bronze medal playing for U-19 Canadian National Team at the Women's World Cup.
Three years later, she was at Florida setting the base paths on fire and molding herself into one of the best hitters in the country (fifth in the SEC last season, 40th nationally).
"She's just been super-steady," Walton said. "She's a worker. Loves the work – she keeps a very structured routine – and wants to get better."
Added Falby: "When you're a freshman you don't know what's going on, so I just really came in and put my head down and grinded away at it. Once I kind've established myself, the coaches didn't really change anything. They let me go and play and be an athlete. They let me be me."
For good reason.
Falby has a lot of running left to do and she's chasing some awfully big goals; both team-wise and individually. She keeps those to herself.
"My main focus this year is to go up to the plate and do what I want," Falby said. "I've been through two years now, so there are no more surprises."
There are, however, a handful of new faces in the ball yard and the team will need some time to grow. The face in centerfield, though, will be a very familiar, productive and exciting one.
