(SB) Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Everyone seems transfixed by this homesick/lovelorn scenario. I know nothing but I also highly doubt that is the full story.

 

She may want to catch.

 

D1 Softball

2024 Fall Report: Florida

TOP STORIES Rhiannon Potkey - December 16, 2024


Florida head coach Tim Walton has what could be considered a first-world problem in sports–trying to subdue the “outside noise” of what other people say about a Gators team with potential to make a run for the national title.

“We had a lot of compliments coming out about the way we finished the season last year at the College World Series and how we were the youngest team at the College World Series. So obviously, a lot of people, including my fan base, expect us to be really good and make a march for Oklahoma City,” Walton said. “I think that’s just another piece that you’ve got to manage. But I would much rather manage that than managing trying to figure out how we’re going to be good.”

The Gators finished 54-15 and 17-7 (2nd place) in the SEC last season. Their Women’s College World Series appearance was the 12th in program history.

Florida returns most of the major components from last season’s team outside of shortstop Skylar Wallace, who was a very, very significant piece. But the Gators have added more talented freshmen and impact transfers to help fill the void.

“I like the balance that we have as far as young and experienced. I think we’ve got a lot of really, really young players, and we’ve got a lot of experienced players, and then we have some young players that have experience,” Walton said. “It’s a good, fresh balance. We’re not too young where we are having to learn everything brand new, and we’re not too old, that we’re tired or just going through the motions.”

If the Gators perform to expectation, they will be dealing with the “outside noise” all season. Walton is trying to prepare his players for everything that comes with the elevated status.

“I don’t think that you can duck away from it. I think the reality is, it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finish. And if you want to finish in Oklahoma City, then you have to be accountable. You have to be accountable for yourself. You have to be accountable for the program,” Walton said. “That’s the one emphasis that I put on this team–is that there isn’t one player or one person in this program that’s more important than the program itself. The program is the most important component, the most valuable piece.”


Newcomers:


The Gators didn’t have many significant holes, yet are adding a slew of talent to the roster. They have welcomed five freshmen and three transfers.

Senior pitcher Kara Hammock transferred from UNC Wilmington, giving the young pitching staff a veteran presence. The right-hander was 17-6 with a 1.60 ERA, 102 strikeouts and 41 walks in 157.2 innings last season.

“She’s got a really good personality about her, and a strong work ethic. She wants to contend for a spot in the rotation. Most importantly, she wants to finish her career in Oklahoma City, and I think that that’s why she’s here,” Walton said. “She wants to be pushed. She wants to be coached differently, and she wants the expectations of what it takes to be great. She thinks there’s a little bit more in her tank, and she wants us to try to help her find that.”

Senior Rylee Holtorf batted .336 with 11 home runs, eight doubles, and 25 RBIs last season at Washington. A former teammate of UF’s Jocelyn Erickson when she was younger, Holtorf led UW in hits (51) and runs scored (37).

“She just was recently married, so she’s one of the first players that I’ve ever coached to be married,” Walton said. “She’s all in. She’s worked really hard at not only adapting to what it’s like to be a Gator in Gainesville, but also being able to bring some of the experience that she’s gained and learned from her previous stop.”

Junior transfer Kenleigh Cahalan hit .296 with eight doubles, five triples and 30 RBIs last season at Alabama.

Freshman outfielder Townsen Thomas of Texas was the 2024 Alliance Fastpitch Championship Most Outstanding Player while playing for the Bombers. She was an 18U Team USA member.

Freshman right-handed pitcher Katelynn Oxley helped the Birmingham Thunderbolts win the 2024 18U PGF Championship. She was 2023 Florida Gatorade State Player of the Year.

“She carried the load the past four years at Bartow High School, and now she’s in a staff of some veteran pitchers,” Walton said. “But she’s embraced that and fits in really well. She’s had some really good outings for us this fall.”

Freshman Taylor Shumaker was the 2023 Alliance Super Cup Offensive MVP. Walton expects the California native to bat in the middle of the order as a rookie.

“This is probably one of the best dimensional players we’ve had since Amanda Lorenz,” Walton said. “She’s a really good softball player. She runs the bases hard. She plays the outfield well. She can throw. She can hit. She is quick. But then her personality is kind of the coolest part. She’s pretty calm under pressure. She’s fun to work with.”

Gabi Comia of Indiana and Layla Lamar, the daughter of Duke head coach Marissa Young, round out the freshmen class.

“The reality of it is, we’re pretty deep and athletic. All five of our freshmen have had really good fall moments, and they’ve also all been freshmen this fall too,” Walton said. “I’m not going to put too much on their plate of what we think they’re going to kind of accomplish. Because I can sit here and pump their tires all day long, but you go into your first SEC game and they’re freshmen. So they all have a long way to go.”


Pitching:


Florida’s freshmen exceeded the sky-high expectations last season, shouldering the load for a pitching staff that featured no returning starters. They return as sophomores with experience at the highest stage of the sport.

Keagan Rothrock was the workhorse. The right-hander was 33-9 with a 2.59 ERA, 201 strikeouts and 101 walks in 262.0 IP. She threw 28 complete games and had two saves.

The Gators shut her down from throwing until July 21st to rest. Rothrock spent some of the time in the weight room getting stronger. Once she was back in the circle, she worked on improving her rise ball, her change, and her curve. Rothrock will also be hitting this season, joining fellow sophomore Ava Brown as a two-way threat.

“She was clearly happy with the way we finished the season, but not content, and really not satisfied,” Walton said. “She is probably one of the one of the fiercest competitors that really didn’t show a lot of emotion in the World Series. She just did a fantastic job of pretty much putting us on her back and keeping it manageable and just competing and giving us a chance to win so many games.”

Brown went 16-5 with a 3.59 ERA, 68 strikeouts and 58 walks in 124.2 IP as a rookie. The right-hander plays first when she’s not in the circle.

“She is just really working hard on her pitch development,” Walton said. “She’s trying to get a down pitch and be able to pitch to both sides of the plate with left handers and right-handed batters live.”

Olivia Miller was 3-0 with a 3.09 ERA, 19 strikeouts and five walks in 31.2 IP last season. The left-hander was the first freshman in program history to throw two perfect games.

“She worked harder this summer trying to get to where she can come back and pitch and be an integral part of some of our bigger games and for us,” Walton said.

Hammock and Oxley will round a diverse staff that is being mentored by new pitching coach Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro, who came to Florida after spending the last two seasons as the head coach at Memphis. Prior to that, VanBrakle Prothro was the longtime pitching coach at Alabama.

“She’s a really good fit already to who I am and what our program is about. She’s a hard worker. She’s relatable. She can have conversations with the athletes. She does enough video, enough technology, enough communication, calm under pressure, a good pitch caller, a good pitch developer,” Walton said. “But I think the one thing that’s kind of an underrated skill is she’s also a mom, and she has the ability to have empathy with the athletes.”


Offense:


Florida led the SEC in every major offensive category last season, including batting average (.330), slugging percentage (.585), on-base percentage (.439), runs scored (520), RBIs (493), doubles (113), triples (19), and home runs (100).

This season? The Gators could be even better.

“This is as deep of an offensive lineup that we’ve probably had since 2011, and that was one of the best offensive years,” Walton said. “I think last year we surpassed a lot of those numbers, 110 stolen bases, 100 home runs. I think we have a very, very, very balanced lineup.”

Junior Jocelyn Erickson is coming off a career year. The first-team All-American was named SEC Player of the Year and NFCA Division I Player of the Year. Erickson batted .382 with 15 home runs, 15 doubles, 50 runs, 50 walks and a single-season program-record 86 RBIs.

“How do you manage that? Because everything you’re going to do is compared to last year,” Walton said. “And so we’ve sandwiched her around some really good hitters to help.”

Senior Korbe Otis, a first-team All-American, batted a team-leading .434 with 12 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBIs. Otis led the team in on-base percentage at .568 and was 14-of-15 in stolen bases.

Senior Reagan Walsh batted .372 with 19 home runs, 14 doubles and 70 RBIs with a .754 slugging percentage.

Senior Kendra Falby had the “best fall” of her career while trying to add some new dimensions to her game. Falby batted .361 with 16 doubles and 25 RBIs while stealing 19 bases in 23 attempts last season. She had an on-base percentage of .408 in a team-high 241 at-bats.

“I know that sounds crazy, to add dimensions to Kendra Falby, but there’s a lot more there that I think can really help us get her on base a lot more,” Walton said. “That’s the goal for us with Kendra. How can we get Kendra on base more? Because her on-base percentage and her batting average are always pretty similar, so we are working really hard to get her on-base to .450 or above.”

Brown batted .241 with 13 home runs, eight doubles and 43 RBIs and sophomore Mia Williams showcased glimpses of her power with six home runs.

Holtorf, Cahalan and Shumaker will bring their own touches to an offense that won’t be lacking for options.

“I think when you take the combination of what we returned and add the new pieces, it’s a very, very deep lineup,” Walton said.


Defense:


Erickson was a rock behind the plate last season, setting a UF single-season record for lowest stolen base percentage against (.316) as she threw out 13 of the 19 runners attempting to steal.

Holtorf will step in for Wallace at shortstop, with Cahalan as an option as well. Cahalan will likely start at third base. Comia is taking reps at second base. Walsh will see time at first base with Brown and Erickson.

The Gators are deep in the outfield, with Falby, Otis, Shumaker, Thomas, Lamar and Cassidy McLellan.

“Long story short, I don’t really think we have anything completely set or settled on,” Walton said. “We still have a lot of things left that we’re working through. My job is to manage the playing time, and manage the disappointment of playing time.”

Expectations:

The SEC is deeper this season with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. Although Florida has the talent to contend for titles, the Gators are sticking to the process.

“This won’t be a College World Series or bust-type mentality,” Walton said. “The main thing is having players that come in here and work on their strengths, identify their weaknesses, be a great teammate and compete really hard to beat you. I think that’s just our mentality.”

Walton views the building process more holistically.

“I’ve kind of created a professional model. There’s no one size fits all for our 20 players in this program. It’s, we are going to do whatever we need to do to help you accomplish what you want to accomplish, day in, day out–socially, academically, athletically,” he said. “With that being said, the championships come. They’re just part of the work ethic, they’re part of the competition, they’re part of the process.”

 

Great article. Wow. More stoked about the girls and these coming seasons than ever before. Look out Oky and Texas. The lady gators are coming for you !

 

Interesting timeline on this story. Coach mentions pretty much every player by name except AK yet he says "20players". The roster would only be 20 with AK on it. Not sure when interview was done but it looks to be released right after portal deadline. It would appear this was a very difficult decision and she was given till the 13th hour to decide. Now a question for those that know the rules...do players have to sit a year with in conference transfers or is that up to the coach of the departing team? I know Skylar had some issues on that but I don't know if those rules are still in place. I personally do not see coach making her sit a year especially given this has tge appearance of a really hard choice she needed to make.

 

And the Oklahoma and Texas series are both in Gainesville. KSP will be rocking!

 

I cannot seem to post it, but Ariel has committed to TAMU on X

 

Gross

 

Texas girl going home. Her Boyfriend since 7th grade, her sister all attend aTm and all 3 majoring in Engineering. Both parents went to aTm and Dad is an engineer. I am not shocked or surprised. Thank you for the good year you had with us and best to you in every game EXCEPT our opening SEC series with aTm.

 

I would venture to say that has been set up since she was there earlier this fall. In the works at least. Hope she's happy. She'll be their best player the next 3 years I believe. Wonder is she's eligible.

 

We all know the Gators are loaded but so is the SEC. Early polls have 10 SEC teams in the top 20. I'm not so sure if it won't be harder to win the SEC than win the WCWS.

 

She’ll have to sit out the year

 

Sad to see AK go. This presents a big opportunity on a team where playing time will be hard to come by. I have to think if you are one of the players scrapping and clawing trying to get on the field, you had better be throwing your name in to learn how to catch. This also might explain both Holtorf and Cahalan being brought in. Walton probably had an inkling that this was a possibility.

 

But now that that is settled, 49 days until opening day!

 

Seems like old news to me. I still would like to know UF's backup catcher plans as I have zero concerns about 3rd base and replacing a .300 hitter.

Who said you can't go back home? Good luck to Ariel, just not against the Gators when the 2026, 2027, and 2028 seasons roll around.

 

Texas A&M Roster€
I am going to go out on a limb a predict it will be easier to get to Oklahoma City than win the SEC. With the addition of OK and TX and returning champion TENN and third place TXAM and other lurkers lying in ambush, expect a tight finish.
Particularly concerning is our first SEC series, at TXAM. Tricia Ford has done an excellent job turning around the program. In 2022, Evan’s last year, the Aggies went overall 31-28 (6-12 SEC). Under Ford they improved to 35-21 (12-12) in 2023 and 44-15 (15-9) last year.
The roster count last year was 23. They lost 8 seniors and had 2 players transfer out. The 13 players’ staying include 5 starters in the field: SR. SS Koko Woolley, BA .382, JR. 1B Amari Harper, .345, SR. 3B Kennedy Powell, .320, SR. RF Allie Enright, .308 and SR. LF Kramer Eshete, .290. Pitchers returning are SR. Emiley Kennedy, 24-11 ERA 1.93 with 202.2 innings and Emily Leavitt, 10-2 ERA 3.66 and 67.0 IP. There is not much information about the other 6 returnees. They must replace C, CF and 2B. DP performance it appears was shared by several players with mediocre results.
They have beefed up the roster to 27 by adding 4 transfers and 10 from the # 12 ranked signing class. Transfers in are: Olivia Johnson, SR. C from Washington, BA .300 OPS .874 4 HR. Mac Barbara, Grad 1B from San Diego St. BA .380 OPS 1.267 14 HR (Highly Decorated). Sidne Peters Soph P from Washington 8-1 3.35 ERA 62.2 IP (PAC 12 All Freshmen). Grace Sparks Jr P from Ole Miss 9-3 2.14 ERA 78.IP.
The 10 freshmen include 3 Gatorade Softball POY: Taylor Brown, Missouri (2 time POY), Sydney Lessintine, New Mexico POY, and Kate Munnerlyn, California. The fourth pitcher is Della Jasinski, ranked the #22 player And # 10 pitcher in the Extra Elite 100. The remaining players, 3 infielders, 2 outfielders and 1 catcher had final year BA from .465-.588.
In summary, while I am concerned about the size of the roster, I believe they will be in the running for SEC championship and a high seed for NCAA. They will be a stern test among many for the Gators this year.
PS. I wrote this before AK47’s transfer. This will only make them stronger!

 

Life is full of tough choices. She definitely busted her butt for the Gators, and for that I am grateful. I wish her nothing but success.

 

So she waited a day and has to sit out a year
Crazy
Maybe she can convince the boyfriend to head to Hogtown ❤️