It was one of her last chomps in uniform, but Skylar Wallace exited her career Tuesday as one of the most beloved Gators of her generation.
Harry Fodder: 'The Best Thing I Ever Did'
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 | Softball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY – Skylar Wallace knew the question was coming Tuesday, but that didn't make it any easier.
To hear or answer.
Skylar, you made your mark on the program. What has it been like to be a Gator?
Oh my. How does one of the greatest players and teammates – a consummate professional and generational ambassador to her program – put four years into words mere minutes after her collegiate career has come to end?
Not easily, of course.
Through her tears, and with a supportive hand on her shoulder from Coach Tim Walton to her left and teammate Kendra Falby to her right, Wallace spoke briefly about her development, the trust and dedication she had with the Florida staff, about opportunity, about UF and its resources and the privilege of putting on a Florida uniform. Her voice quivered.
"Being a Gator is the best thing I ever did. I stand on it," Wallace said. "It is the greatest program in college softball and the greatest university in America."
The 2024 UF softball season ended Tuesday afternoon when Oklahoma's Jayda Coleman hit a solo, walk-off home run in the eighth inning to hand UF a 6-5 gut punch defeat in the semifinals of the Women's College World Series, leaving the Gators one win (one run, actually) shy of the national-championship series. That the Sooners prevailed was no surprise, given they'd won the last three NCAA titles and now will play for an unprecedented fourth in a row. In fact, most would say OU, not UF, is the "greatest program" in college softball.
Not Wallace. She'd probably fight you over it.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "And That's the Ballgame" recap here]
Wallace is as orange-and-blue as they come and her place in Florida athletic lore – as well as the UF Hall of Fame a few years down the line – is secure after leading the Gators back to the center of the collegiate softball universe in her final season and helping put her team on the doorstep of playing for the whole thing. Not bad for a program that entered the year with 11 new players and preseason-projected to finish seventh in the Southeastern Conference.
That's right. Seventh.
Wallace was not going to let that happen. The '24 Gators, a mixture of some veteran returnees, a couple talented transfers and some big-time building-block freshmen, followed their leader from the fall into the spring and all the way to OKC, where she clubbed two homers Monday night in a 9-3 blasting of OU that ended the Sooners' 20-game winning streak at the CWS.
In the end, they were thisclose to reaching the NCAA title series for the first time in seven years. The Gators finished 54-14 and third in the country. Now it's up to the players Wallace is leaving behind to maintain the standard she helped reset as the UF alpha and all-time run-scorer in NCAA history.
"I only know Skylar [and] now she's leaving," said Falby, the junior, also crying. "I didn't think that was allowed."
She turned to Wallace. "You've got another year, right?"
If only.
Skylar Wallace's final 2024 numbers will show a .411 average, 90 runs scored, 16 home runs and 70 RBI.
Where Wallace fought to put her UF time into words, Falby picked up the slack. She gushed about what it meant to be Wallace's little sister in the clubhouse and companion on the field.
"Seeing her grow as a leader from the beginning to the end, just how she's been able to lead this team. … How she was able to walk out her senior year and make sure she took this team under her wing and led the way she did," Falby said. "She's done amazing things for this program, this sport. So many little girls look up to her. I'm so happy that I was just a part of her journey. It means the world to me to have been able to play with her because Skylar Wallace is a name the NCAA is going to know forever."
Her work, leadership and the culture she helped galvanize at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium after transferring from Alabama in 2021 made a rousing 2024 season possible.
Yes, Wallace's work at UF is done. Her legacy will live on. Falby and company will make sure of it.
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Oh my. How does one of the greatest players and teammates – a consummate professional and generational ambassador to her program – put four years into words mere minutes after her collegiate career has come to end?
