From left, pitcher Keagan Rothrock, catcher Jocelyn Erickson and outfielder Kobe Otis are three of the five UF players on watch lists for 2025 NCAA Player of the Year.
Loaded & Reloaded: Gators Start 2025 No. 1
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 | Softball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They were thisclose.
The 2024 Florida Gators had juggernaut Oklahoma as backed onto the ropes as the Sooners had experienced in their incredible run to back-to-back-to-back Women's College World Series titles. There the Gators were, up three runs midway through their elimination game in the national semifinals at Oklahoma City. And they were still, righthere, in extra innings, when OU's Jayda Coleman popped a fly ball to left that the southwestern breeze carried just out of the reach of left fielder Korbe Otis's glove for the walk-off game-winner.
The Sooners went on to claim a fourth straight national title, sweeping Texas in the two-game NCAA final. The Gators went home, but with a future as bright as the program had beamed in years.
"There's a lot we could dwell on or be nostalgic about as far as last year, but honestly none of us are spending our time doing that," Otis said. "The time I have with this team is special."
That's because the 2025 Gators figure to be very, very special, evidenced by the fact they'll start the year ranked No. 1 in the nation in the D1 Softball and Softball America polls – yes, ahead of the four-time reigning champion Sooners (2) and '24 runner-up Longhorns (3), both now in the Southeastern Conference – when the season opens Thursday night against North Florida at Seashole Stadium.
UF returns seven players from a team that went 54-17 and won eight of 10 postseason games before falling to that eighth-inning walk-off from reaching the WCWS final. Included in that group are catcher Jocelyn Erickson ('24 NCAA and SEC Player of the Year), Otis (first-team All American), centerfielder Kendra Falby (first-team All-SEC and '24 Gold Glove recipient), infielder/slugger Reagan Walsh (first-team All-SEC) and workhorse pitcher Keagan Rothrock (SEC Freshman of the Year). All five are listed on a preseason watch list for 2025 NCAA Player of the Year, which matches the same number of nominees as OU.
"Our lineup is so deep," said Falby, now a senior. "You're not going to see one standout, but a lot of different people doing super-big things in the moment."
Centerfielder Kendra Falby, flashing her the 2024 Golden Glove, will anchor an outfield that could be the best defensively in the country.
The program is in a very different place than where it was during the three seasons that preceded its '24 run to OKC. To recap:
2021 – UF combined for just seven hits and was eliminated by rival Georgia with two shutout losses at home in Super Regional play.
2022 – Finished six games back in the SEC standings, but upset Virginia Tech in its first road Super in 15 years, then combined for just five hits in shutout losses to Oklahoma State and UCLA at the WCWS.
2023 – Posted a losing record in SEC play, went on the road for NCAA opening weekend for the first time since 2004 and got outscored by Stanford 19-2, falling short of the Super round for the first time since 2012.
Along the way, the rebuild was in the works on the recruiting trail and went was accelerating through the transfer portal.
"Anyone who expects to win knows what their efficiencies and deficiencies are," UF coach Tim Walton said.
The trademark efficiencies of Walton's program over the years – pitching and defense – returned in '24, but so did an offense that had been stagnant for several seasons. The Gators led the SEC in – get this – batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, runs, hits, RBI, doubles, triples, home runs, total bases, walks … you get the idea.
But every bit as important was the return of an intangible element into the Florida clubhouse; a collective willingness for players to put in work on their own, away from the mandatory things. Seeing Rothrock huddling with her fellow pitchers or Falby and Otis shagging extra flyballs reminded him of the work ethic that defined his best teams.
This group hasn't just picked up where last year's left off.
"They're doing even more," Walton said.
It's rubbing off on a trio of impact transfers with all-league pedigree at their former schools and a freshman class rated, pending the service, as either No. 1 or 2 in the nation. Put together, the immense expectations make sense, even with the juggernaut specter of Oklahoma in the league.
For perspective: UF's five players on that preseason "watch list" for PoY honors is the same as OU.
Reagan Walshled the Gators in homers last season with 19 to go with 70 RBI.
"We are a good team and we have the work ethic to back it up," said Walton, who is entering his 20th season with the Gators and needs 20 wins to reach 1,000 with the program. "The hype doesn't matter. Can you go out there and play with the field painted and the lights on?"
This team will. From behind the plate, where Erickson also was the nation's Gold Glove catcher, to the last inch of the warning track, where the Gators might boast the best outfield in the country with Otis in left, Falby in center and freshman Taylor Shumaker, a heralded prep and club prospect from California, in right.
"I get to play with upperclassmen who are amazing softball players, but also great individuals," Shumaker said. "I feel so fortunate having them to learn how to handle college softball and become the best version of myself."
Aiding that defense, of course, will be a pitching staff manned by Rothrock, now a sophomore after setting a UF freshman record last season with victories in going 33-9 – she started all 11 NCAA Tournament games – with a 2.59 ERA, 201 strikeouts and 101 walks. The bulk of the remaining innings will shake out between sophomore Ava Brown (16-5, 3.59 last season), who will be an everyday hitter as either an infielder or designated hitter, along with sophomore Olivia Miller, Kara Hammock (transfer from North Carolina-Wilmington) and freshman Katelynn Oxley, a five-star recruit out of Bartow, Fla.
The pitching staff will be under the direction of Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro, who was head coach at Memphis the last two seasons, but from 2003-06 was one of the top pitchers and two-way players in the SEC during an all-league career at Alabama. She coached Crimson Tide pitchers for 10 seasons before taking the post at Memphis, but now is back in the conference.
"She doesn't cut any corners. No excuses," Walton said of VanBarkle Prothro. "It's, 'This is what we're going to do and how long we're going to do it for,' and she'll exhaust every single resource to get it done."
Finally, at the plate, the Gators will hit up and down the lineup. From the left and right side. On multiple swing planes and various swing paths. These Gators, which now includes a pair of transfers in senior shortstop Rylee Holtorf (first-team All-Pac-12 at Washington) and junior third baseman Kenleigh Cahalan (second-team All-SEC at Alabama) will be able to play in shootouts and win defensive pitching duels, and do it all with a mix of veteran upperclassmen and with orange-and-blue-clad first-timers.
2024 SEC Freshman of the Year.
'24 second-team All-SEC, started 63 games.
3-time All-Colonial Athletic Association.
Tossed two perfect games as freshman in '24.
2024 Max Preps All American.
Solid fall season to start her senior year.
Nation's No. 4 prospect in '24 class.
Started 7 games in '24, on mend from injury.
"What's super-cool about this team is that everyone is on the same page," Falby said. "From Day 1, it's been one goal and we talk about it. There are nine of us [back] who went to the World Series. Our newcomers, from the beginning, have talked about being in a World Series. We've talked to them about getting so close last year and that we don't want to feel that again. We want to finish with a different ending."
But they also understand this is just the beginning. And it's a long season that eventually gives way to a conference season that – with Oklahoma and Texas – will be different and more difficult than ever before.
That's OK.
"We were the last three teams at the College World Series last year, and we're the youngest of them and performed pretty well on the big stage," Walton said. "So I embrace it. They're good. We're good. We're all good. The message I've been sending has been really clear: it doesn't matter what people think or say, it's what we do."
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
