Although the Florida Gators came up a little bit short of their goal of a national championship, the honors continue to pour in for the record-setting softball team. Thursday, the Gators were named named Team of the Year by Easton Sports, Inc., and five Gators earned Easton first-team All-American honors, the most from any single school.
Named to the first team All-America squad were senior pitcher Stacey Nelson, junior left fielder Francesca Enea, sophomore pitcher Stephanie Brombacher, sophomore right fielder Kelsey Bruder and sophomore second baseman Aja Paculba.
The 2009 Gators set 39 school records and made the program’s first-ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series Championship Series. Their .323 batting average was tops in Florida record books and seventh in SEC history. The Gators’.543 slugging percentage and .423 on-base percentage ranked third all-time in the SEC while their 86 home runs broke the conference record. The 63-5 record is the second only to the Florida’s 2008’s NCAA-record breaking 70-5 season.
This marked the third time Nelson earned Easton first-team honors. The two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year led the nation in ERA (.061) and shutouts (22). Nelson holds 24 records at Florida and is sixth in NCAA history for 136 career wins. She was named the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award recipient. Nelson pitched two no-hitters this season, both against SEC opponents, and was named Pitcher of the Week three times. She also became the first Gator in history to register more than 1,000 strikeouts, finishing fourth in SEC history with 1,116. Nelson was also selected first team All-American by NFCA/Louisville Slugger for the third straight year.
Enea, a two-time All-American, led the team in home runs (18), RBI (71), and on-base percentage (.494). She broke UF’s single-season RBI record while claiming the top spot in the record books for career RBI (157) and home runs (41). She hit three grand slams this season and a team-high 14 game-winning RBI. She was named to the All-SEC second team, earned Player of the Week honors twice and was also an NFCA/Louisville Slugger second-team All-American.
Brombacher has never lost a college game. She is 42-0 in her career after posting her second straight 20-win season. She finished second in the country in ERA (0.84) and recorded Florida’s first no-hitter since 2006 when she blanked South Carolina 8-0. Opponents hit only .161 against Brombacher, who earned
All-SEC second-team honors and NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-American second-team honors.
Playing her first season as an every day outfielder, Bruder posted a slugging percentage of .713 and led the Gators in doubles (17), total bases (139) and sacrifice flies (5). Bruder hit three grand slams, including one with two outs in the bottom of the seventh against Mississippi State to give the Gators the come-from-behind win. She tied for second on the team with 16 homers and was second with 11 game-winning RBI, eight game-winning runs, and 22 multi-RBI games. She earned the team’s only national player of the week honors for her performance at the SEC tournament and was named to the All-SEC first team and SEC All-Defensive team. She was also selected NFCA/Louisville Slugger second-team All-American.
Paculba earned first team All-America honors for the second straight year after leading the Gators in hits (75), runs (69) and stolen bases (27). She broke Florida’s single season records for runs scored and stolen bases this year while earning first team All-SEC and All-SEC Defensive Team for the second straight year. She scored the game-winning run 21 times and had 22 multi-hit games, most on the team.
(The University of Florida SID Department provided the content for this story)