As I have said before, she had a decent three seasons playing mostly mid-level competition. Her batting average for the three years was .345...not bad....but her production for a usually four or five hole hitter was not great...an average of 4 home runs and only 34 rbis per season. We can reasonably expect if those three seasons were against SEC competition, the numbers would have been even less.
So is any of this Cali Decker stuff real. We’ve already picked a couple of catcher’s in the portal, plus we have the best catcher in D1 softball in Jocey.
I remember we signed a very productive mid-level player, who personally I like, Pal. Her BA dropped by about 70 points, her HR's were about half and her SB's were about 50% of her usual production. She was still better than 50% of our usual team but as rick pointed out, she was not an elite SEC type player and neither was Cali. Nice girl, very good player but not a top tier SEC player. If she was, then even a lower-level SEC team would have picked her up. Big difference between SEC play every weekend and Big West, MAC, ASun, etc. Pitching and hitting.
Freshman Texas Tech Infielder/Pitcher Bailey Lindemuth has committed to Georgia. Bulldogs are doing a very nice job in the portal. Former Texas Tech Infielder Bailey Lindemuth Commits To Georgia
Don't think "none" is the correct answer as to how many UF was "in for". Not sure exactly what that means. But... In regards to Top 20-25 portal players, we offered pitcher Kiley Channell from Florida Atlantic, but she chose Clemson over us & FSU. She's from Keystone Heights and many thought we had a good chance to get her. We, also, offered UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry, a Top 5 portal player, but she chose Texas Tech over a bunch of other schools who offered. Probably didn't have much of a chance with her, but at least we made contact and tried. We, also, were in the running for Missouri pitcher Taylor Pannell, who chose Texas A&M over UF, Texas & South Carolina. We offered middle infielder Kylee Edwards from Miss. St., who chose to go to LSU. I'm not sure which transfers constitute the Top 20-25, but in looking at those with a rating of 90 and above (which probably constitutes somewhere around 20-25 players) including those previously mentioned, we got 2 of those signed. Madison Walker from Missouri has a 92 rating and Kendall Grover has a 90 rating. And FGCU pitcher Allison Sparkman, with a 90 rating, is choosing between UF & FSU according to On3. Coach Walton has worked his tail off, from what I understand, trying to beef up our roster, But the program simply doesn't have the money to get in a bidding war with those programs who do. So he's getting the best players he can within our limits.
Oops! You are correct. And I knew that. Just showed my brain addled age of 73 when typing it out. Sorry folks.
The aforementioned Pitcher from FGCU, Allison Sparkman, signed with the Gators today. 2 years of eligibility left. Adds depth and experience to the staff. Sparkman Signs With Gators - Florida Gators
What do I know...but I am a little surprised he picked up another pitcher. Not a comment regarding Sparkman positive or negative. Two years ago at this time we had zero....nadda....zippo...pitchers on staff and now we have six. I wonder if Tim is not sure about the stable health of a couple of them or, if, he is figuring on a lot of 3-2 games with what we lost on offense and he needs a flock of pitchers. All of them on staff appear to have something to offer. Tim knows far better than I.
With the transfers we have brought in so far, I think our transfer class is pretty good. Yes, we might have not gotten the top players but I still think we got players that will contribute right away. I like that Walker, Ella and Desiderio already know what it takes to play and compete in the SEC. Grover seems like a good addition and looking deeper into her stats, she got a hit against all the P4 teams her school faced this past year (washington, texas, ucf). Sparkman had a good freshmen year and I remember her pitching really well against us in regionals in 2024, so if she can get back to that, that will be huge. With the additions the roster is now up to 17 for 2026, I wouldn't doubt if Walton tries to get one more player in the portal to at least bring it to 18. I still believe next season will depend on the health of our pitchers. We never got a weekend I believe where both Keagan and Red were fully healthy.
That would depend on how and why she decided to enter the portal, IMO. But I've read nothing to indicate that she's considering removing her name from the portal and staying in Gainesville. On3 shows her deciding between Arizona, Duke & South Carolina. At one time, it showed 100% Arizona. Considering her family situation, she may just having a hard time making a final decision.
