The Florida Gators have firmly entrenched themselves in the upper echelon of the college softball world, and they aren’t planning on leaving anytime soon. Even after losing a core senior class that helped lead the team to the finals of the Women’s College World Series last season, the team still entered this season with the familiar feeling of high expectations, entering the season ranked third in the nation.
The reason is a young nucleus that only features only two seniors — Francesca Enea and Corrie Brooks — but returns most of last year’s starting lineup to complement seven incoming freshmen.
With such a youthful team, there are bound to be a few bumps along the way, such as the 16 runs allowed in opening the season 3-1 in Clearwater, including a 3-0 loss to No. 10 Georgia Tech. But the upperclassmen already see the potential that this team has once it gets some experience under their collective belts. The team will bring that potential to the field in the Gators’ first home game of the season, Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Jacksonville University.
“Obviously, we lost one of those games, but we still played really hard,” Enea said of the opening weekend. “We’re just going to get better from here. We have so much potential still to be met, and this team’s very talented. We just got a glimpse of that this past weekend.”
The freshmen talent has already given a strong glimpse of what is to come for this team down the road. Brittany Walker showed Coach Tim Walton enough potential that he felt comfortable giving Walker the starting shortstop position and moving Megan Bush to fill in the hole at first base left by Ali Gardiner. Brittany Schutte has shown her versatility, playing some at right field and catcher while hitting two solo home runs in the opening weekend.
The biggest change for the Gators is obviously going to be on the mound, where superstar Stacey Nelson has handed over the reigns to Stephanie Brombacher and two freshmen, Erin Schuppert and Ensley Gammel. Schuppert pitched 6.1 innings of shutout relief in two appearances over the opening weekend, while Gammel gave up five earned runs in her two starts.
While the freshmen are definitely starting to make an impact on the team, there is no doubt that they have to get acclimated quickly to be ready for the rigors of SEC play in about a month.
“This first month is very important for the fact that the freshmen can settle in and get comfortable and get their groove,” Enea said, “so they can feel confident to face the tough teams in the SEC.”
Although there is still some time before the freshmen will dive headfirst into rivalry games, it was still a big step getting some firsthand experience of the college game. Luckily for the freshmen, the team has such a friendly atmosphere that the transition wasn’t too difficult.
“It’s a big jump,” Schuppert said. “It’s a really big jump. But I think the coaches and the team have been really supportive of the freshmen this year. Everyone has done the best they can in helping us make that adjustment. It’s been fun, though.”
The team’s success the past two seasons certainly has made stepping into the Florida lineup an adjustment that many high school players hope they can make.
“First of all, being in a Gator uniform, that’s pretty special in itself,” Schuppert said. “Starting out the first game, everyone was really excited. That’s kind of the reason I came here, to have the opportunity to play for this team, so it was really cool for me to get out there in the first weekend.”
Of course, that success has also added a little bit of pressure to that adjustment period.
“I was pretty nervous,” Gammel said. “We have a big name and high expectations for this team.”
But for the type of players that Florida is able to bring in with that reputation, the jitters don’t hang around for long. It’s easy to see why with how loose the players are in their approach to the game.
“It took me a while — like one batter — to settle down,” Gammel joked. “But I was good after that. It was fun. I liked it a lot. The girls were really friendly.”
Now that the freshmen have gotten the some of the butterflies out with the opening weekend in the books, they get to finally experience what it’s like to play in front of the home crowd.
“I’m really excited,” Gammel said. “First season, I get to see what it’s like, experience it. All the girls talk about it, but it’s different to actually do it than to just continually hear about it.”
Once the freshmen get all of their first experiences out of the way, they will be able to focus on helping the Gators continue building a softball legacy where they left off last year in Oklahoma City.