Tim Walton guided the 2024 Gators, picked to finish seventh in the SEC, to the 12th Women's College World Series in program history.
Harry Fodder: From Rebuild Season to Season to Build On
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | Softball, Chris Harry
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY – The notion that Florida's 2024 softball team was the seventh-best in the Southeastern Conference, per preseason projections, was a put-on.
"I said it from the beginning of the season," Walton reflected Tuesday. "We have a really good team."
Those words, delivered somewhat solemnly, came from the post-game podium following UF's crushing 6-5 loss Tuesday to three-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Women's College World Series. Seventh in the SEC, huh? Florida finished the season 54-14 and was college softball's third team left standing, behind No. 1 Texas and No. 2 OU.
The ride may have been different, possibly longer, if Walton's transfer-portal quest to land a marquee veteran pitcher had worked out last summer, but instead the Gators went almost exclusively with a pair of freshmen in the circle, led by iron-armed Keagan Rothrock, and the season still ended on the doorstep of the NCAA final. Pretty remarkable.
"I hate losing. It's the worst. But I'm proud of my team for the fight and the competitiveness they showed," Walton said in recapping his 12th trip to the WCWS. "We probably are a little bit out of gas, to be honest with you. It's just a lot. We're here for eight or nine days. Five rain delays, whatever else it was, it's a lot. [But] I'm proud. None of my players made any excuses or blamed anybody. They went out there and had fun."
Now comes the offseason and inevitabl3 look to next season.
The Gators will lose six players from the '24 roster, none more important than shortstop, two-time All American and 2023 SEC Player of the Year Skylar Wallace, the all-time run-scorer in college softball history. Wallace has been the heart and soul of the program – on the field and in the locker room – the last two seasons and her loss will leave a gigantic void on both the production and leadership front, but players like Kendra Falby (senior in '25), Korbe Otis (senior), '24 SEC Player of the Year Jocelyn Erickson (junior) and home run leader Reagan Walsh (senior) can collectively fill.
That leaves seven starters returning, including Rothrock, who led the nation in wins in the circle with 33, along with first baseman/pitcher Ava Brown, who was UF's No. 2 option as a freshman. Outfielder Cassidy McLellan, who suffered a season ending injury during a March series against Mississippi State, will be healthy and back in the fold.
The battery of catcher Jocelyn Erickson (left), the 2024 SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore, and pitcher Keagan Rothrock (right), who led the nation with 33 wins as a freshman, have a lot more softball to play as Gators.
And then comes, for the second consecutive year, a loaded recruiting class that is headlined by a trio ranked among the top five nationally.
Infielder Gabi Comia (Cedar Lake, Ind., who hit over .600 the last two seasons.
Infielder Layla Lamar (Cary, N.C.), the daughter of Duke coach Marissa Young, who had a four-home run, 10-RBI game during her senior season.
Pitcher Katelynn Oxley (Bartow, Fla.), with more than 1,000 career strikeouts, including 16 in the Class 7A state championship game as a junior.
Those are the ones who show up high on the national lists, but the UF staff loves the other two incoming rookies, outfielders Taylor Shumaker (Fullerton, Calif.) and Townsen Thomas (Humble, Texas). Shumaker is the leadoff hitter for the No. 1 club team in the country.
This time last year, OU was celebrating its third straight NCAA crown more than two weeks after Florida had been eliminated in the regional round for the first time in 11 years. The four UF seasons before that looked like this: A short-lived two-and-out at the 2019 WCWS; Covid shutdown in 2020; two shutout losses against rival Georgia in the Gainesville Super Regional in 2021; two shutout losses in a three-game stay at the WCWS in 2022.
For Walton, the 2024 season was about reclaiming the program's rightful place among the nation's elite. So third in the country is not just something to appreciate, but something to celebrate.
Those words, delivered somewhat solemnly, came from the post-game podium following UF's crushing 6-5 loss Tuesday to three-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Women's College World Series. Seventh in the SEC, huh? Florida finished the season 54-14 and was college softball's third team left standing, behind No. 1 Texas and No. 2 OU.
