Florida Gators Softball Standout Hannah Adams Knows The Answer To W.I.N.
Hannah Adams committed just two errors in her high school career – one of which never should have happened.
As Paul Pierce, Adams’ high school coach, recalls, a ball was hit to the wall and Adams was out for the cut.
The ball was thrown to Adams, who then turned to make the throw to home. It was a routine throw for the second baseman. But this one got away from her.
“I definitely remember that. It was embarrassing,” Adams said when asked to reminisce about the throw home. “I was trying to throw a girl out at home, and I got my (hand) caught in my ponytail and I threw it almost to the dugout that my team was in. It wasn’t even close to home at all. And then the run scored.
“It was against our biggest rival, and it was so embarrassing. It never happened to me before in practice or anything. I was so embarrassed; I didn’t even know what to do.”
But Pierce would argue that Adams knew exactly what to do. She always did.
Pierce coached high school softball for nearly 20 years at Collins Hill, another local school in Georgia, before making the jump to Mill Creek. The veteran manager also coached Jaimie Hoover, who is in her fifth year at Florida while at Collins Hill.
Pierce had seen a lot of softball – a lot of good softball, at that.
“We play a pretty good brand of softball,” Pierce said. “And we play against a lot of people that Hannah is still playing against at Florida... our county, our region... a lot of people are bound to the SEC, the ACC... a lot of D1 athletes in our county.”
Pierce was still at Collins Hill during Adams’ freshman season but knew of the stout second baseman playing for the other school.
As a freshman, Adams was recognized as the defensive player of the year.
That’s when Pierce realized the talents of Hannah Adams.
“When you play against them and you’re defensive player of the year, you know that’s special,” Pierce said.
Pierce began coaching Mill Creek during Adams’ junior season.
The Mill Creek standout had already committed to the Gators, but you’d never know it.
“I guess she committed to go to Florida early in her high school career, but you would have never known that from talking to her,” Pierce said. “It isn’t like that’s one of the first things she’s going to tell you... With a lot of people it is and could be and probably should be.
“You’re proud of those things that come into your life and you’re proud for her... But she’s not gonna stick her chest out and say look at me.”
However, whether she wants it or not, Adams’ senior season in Gainesville has garnered her national attention.
Adams has started each of the Gators’ 45 games at second base in 2021 and boasts a near-flawless fielding percentage of .976 with 70 putouts.
For Katie Chronister, Florida’s fifth year pitcher on the staff, having Adams behind her is a luxury.
“Especially for me since I want ground balls, I feel a sense of comfort,” Chronister said. “I know that she’ll be able to make plays whenever I need it or be able to assist in some plays.
She’s just gonna be somebody that’s like a wall. That’s how I think of Hannah. If the ball goes to her, I feel pretty confident that an out is going to be made.”
The same confidence Chronister has in Adams now, Pierce had years ago.
According to Pierce, he and his coaches would often joke about simply getting the ball to Hannah Adams.
When Pierce and his assistants would consider what kind of pitch to throw to a batter, the consensus was always, “Just have them hit the ball to Hannah and we’ll be okay.”
The same “get it to Hannah” advice was offered when a ball was sent into play.
“When you’re in doubt, just throw the ball to Hannah,” Pierce laughed. “You throw the ball to Hannah, we’ll be okay. That’s kinda when you realize how special Hannah is.
“When the ball gets hot in your hand and you don’t know what to do, just throw it to Hannah and we’ll be fine.”
Often, Adams’ trips to the batter’s box come with the same consistency as her time spent in the field.
Adams, who generally hits in the leadoff spot for the Gators, sat in the two spot in high school.
According to Pierce, Adams struck out just two times during her four years of high school.
This season, Florida’s leadoff is batting .401, with an on-base percentage of .486. And though she’s striking out more than she did in her high school years, it’s still incredibly rare.
Hannah Adams has visited the plate 142 times this season. She has just 12 strikeouts registered against her. The senior has recorded 57 hits on the year, 33 RBIs and eight home runs.
But perhaps most impressively is Adams’ ability to answer the call when the game is in the balance.
“When you bring Hannah to the plate, you’ve always got a chance,” Pierce said.
Adams has generated three walk-off hits in 2021, with the first dating back to the Gators 1-0 victory over Jacksonville on Feb. 17. Most recently, Adams put her late-game heroics on display in a pivotal SEC series against Missouri over the weekend.
After splitting the first two games of the series in Colombia, Missouri, and being neck-in-neck with Arkansas for the SEC regular season title, the Gators needed to win the series finale.
While the Tigers scratched across runs in the first and third innings, Missouri starting pitcher Jordan Weber kept the Gators off of the scoreboard through the opening six innings.
After Florida’s Sarah Longley produced a one-out double, followed by a free base taken by Baylee Goddard, Adams came to the plate as the winning run.
And in that moment, all that mattered was right in front of her.
Adams worked herself into a full count before sending the offering over the left centerfield wall for a three-run home run to help the Gators to a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning.
“She’s always been in the moment,” Pierce said. “And just clutch. But I think clutch, sometimes, is just people being able to be who they are and stay within themselves in big moments and not try to do too much. It’s kinda what we preach. When the moment gets big, you just gotta be you.”
And Hannah Adams has always been Hannah Adams.
“Hannah is very reserved,” Pierce says. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s a fire inside there. She just doesn’t show it much... Never too down, never too crazy. Just even-kill Hannah.”
When Adams was at Mill Creek, the team used the acronym W.I.N., which posed the question,
“What’s important now?”
And it seems as though Hannah Adams always knows the answer to that question.
“She stays in the moment,” Pierce reiterated. “It doesn’t matter what you did last at-bat... It’s what’s important right now.”
And as the Gators’ regular season begins to wind down, the postseason buzz starts to swirl through the college softball world.
But that’s not what important now. That’s not W.I.N.
“Even though we’ve had a really successful season, nothing before really matters at this point and we just need to focus on this week at practice and focus on our first game on Friday.”
The Gators host the Texas A&M Aggies this weekend in a Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (4 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) series. Florida can claim half of the SEC regular season title with a series sweep.
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