Getting hot at the right time paid off for Walton and the Gators

Gators celebrate SEC Tournament title that got them to a No. 4 national seed (UAA Photo)

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

A week ago, Skylar Wallace and Katie Kistler gushed when asked about their Senior Weekend at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. “Amazing,” Wallace said. “Agreed,” said Kistler, adding, “I couldn’t imagine a more perfect Senior Weekend.”

Wallace and Kistler knew even then that Senior Weekend wouldn’t be their final time playing at KSP. Florida was already assured of hosting an NCAA regional and while they may have suspected the Gators might host a super regional as well, it took leaving three teams on the side of the road in the tall grass at the SEC Tournament to make that a reality.

When Senior Weekend began, the Gators were No. 16 in the NCAA RPI. It was down to No. 12 by the time the Gators had swept the Aggies. At the SEC Tournament in Auburn, the Gators saw their RPI rise with wins over Georgia, Texas A&M and Missouri, all of whom were selected national seeds when the NCAA field was announced Sunday.

Florida left Auburn with a No. 6 RPI, a strong statement considering how many doubts there were when the Gators suffered an unprecedented meltdown against Florida State back on April 24. If that was rock bottom, then what has happened in the 10 games since has been meteoric.

Following the Senior Weekend sweep of the Aggies, Walton noted almost prophetically that the NCAA might take into account that the Gators were on a hot streak.

“There’s always something to be said to the NCAA committee about who’s hot, who’s not, who’s played a schedule and what it looks like,” Walton said. “Ultimately, our challenge is the teams that we’ve played on our schedule, we’ve done a really good job. We’ve had a couple of hiccups, but I think overall, you’re going to have those kind of things with young people, but I think we’ve started to answer the call and we’re playing a heckuva lot better in all aspects of the game.”

Obviously, the NCAA took Florida’s hot streak into account. When the field of 64 teams was announced Sunday night, the Gators were rewarded with a No. 4 national seed, further proof of the importance of getting hot at just the right time. There aren’t too many teams in the country hotter than Florida (46-12) which has won 10 of its last 11 games, all against ranked teams that are regional hosts.

This might go down as one of the top two coaching jobs of Tim Walton’s career at the University of Florida because he’s basically dealing with a rebuilt team from a year ago. Four starters – Wallace, Kistler, Kendra Falby and Reagan Walsh – from last year’s 38-22 team are still in the lineup, joined by transfers Korbe Otis and Jocelyn Erickson along with freshmen Keagan Rothrock, Ava Brown, Ariel Kowalewski and Mia Williams. Rothrock and Brown have pitched all but 42-2/3 innings this season. Walton has made it to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series 11 times but never with such heavy reliance on freshmen pitchers. Overall, it’s the youngest team Walton has put out on the field in years.

“It’s been a challenge,” Walton said after sweeping the Aggies a week ago but the challenge has been rewarding in more ways than just wins on the field.

“The one thing I can tell you that this team has that we haven’t had in a long period of time is a really sound process with the ability to be flexible,” Walton said.  “In other words, it’s not a routine, it’s not habits, it’s not superstitious habits. It’s a sound routine with the ability to be flexible and I think that’s really what has made us a lot better down the stretch.”

NCAA seedings, regional hosts and the field of 64

1. Austin regional: Texas vs. Siena; Northwestern vs. Saint Francis (PA)

2. Norman regional: Oklahoma vs. Cleveland State; Oregon vs. Boston University

3. Knoxville regional: Tennessee vs. Dayton; Virginia vs. Miami (OH)

4. GAINESVILLE REGIONAL: FLORIDA vs. Florida Gulf Coast; South Alabama vs. Florida Atlantic

5. Stillwater regional: Oklahoma State vs. Northern Colorado; Kentucky vs. Michigan

6. Los Angeles regional: UCLA vs. Grand Canyon; Virginia Tech vs. San Diego State

7. Columbia regional: Missouri vs. Omaha; Washington vs. Indiana

8. Stanford regional: Stanford vs. Saint Mary’s; Mississippi State vs. Cal State-Fullerton

9. Baton Rouge regional: LSU vs. Jackson State; California vs. Southern Illinois

10. Durham regional: Duke vs. Morgan State; South Carolina vs. Utah

11. Athens regional: Georgia vs. UNC-Wilmington; Charlotte vs. Liberty

12. Fayetteville regional: Arkansas vs. Southeast Missouri State; Arizona vs. Villanova

13. Lafayette regional: Louisiana vs. Princeton; Baylor vs. Ole Miss

14. Tuscaloosa regional: Alabama vs. South Carolina-Upstate; Clemson vs. Southeastern Louisiana

15. Tallahassee regional: Florida State vs. Chattanooga; Auburn vs. UCF

16. College Station regional: Texas A&M vs. Albany; Texas State vs. Penn State

UF BASEBALL: Another winnable game turns into a bizarre loss

Game three of Florida’s weekend series with 4th-ranked Kentucky ended in similar bizarre fashion as game one. Florida found creative ways to give away game one, 12-11, in ten innings. After battling back from a 3-0 deficit to send the game into extra innings Sunday, the Gators gave up four runs in the tenth inning. While the Gators were able to get two back in the bottom of the tenth, the game ended with runners on second and third and Florida on the short end of a 7-5 score.

At 26-25 (11-16 SEC) and three games remaining against a smoking hot Georgia team (38-12, 16-11 SEC) in Athens next weekend, making the NCAA Tournament is all but impossible unless the Gators can get on a roll at the SEC Tournament.

Sunday, the Gators fell behind 3-0 in the second inning, the first run scoring on a double to left field that Tyler Shelnut got his glove on but couldn’t bring down, a wild pitch and a fly ball to left center field that resulted in a collision between center fielder Jaylen Guy and right fielder Hayden Yost. A walk, a sacrifice bunt, an infield single and a groundout accounted for the other two runs.

That was all Kentucky (37-11, 20-7 SEC) could manage off Florida starter Jac Caglianone, who pitched into the seventh inning, aided by a pair of spectacular catches in right field by Yost, who robbed Ryan Nicholson of extra bases with a catch against the wall and one out later reached over the fence to bring back what would have been a home run by James McCoy.

Jake Clemente and Brandon Neely held the Wildcats at bay while Florida fought back, scoring two in the seventh and one in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. In the seventh, Shelnut singled and one out later, Yost drew a walk. Ashton Wilson, with only seven at-bats all season, pinch-hit for Guy and delivered a double down the right field line to drive in Shelnut and Yost.

The Gators tied the score at 3-3 in the ninth on Shelnut’s 13th home run of the season. The Gators loaded the bases on a single by Brody Donay, a walk to Dale Thomas and a pitch that hit Mikey Robertson on the elbow, but Cade Kurland’s bouncer up the middle resulted in a force out to end the inning.

“I felt like we had all the momentum to go out there and put a zero on the board [in the top of the 10th],” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I felt good that we could come in and score a run, and we didn't have the opportunity to do that."

In the top of the 10th with Brandon Neely on the mound for UF, the Wildcats loaded the bases and pushed one run across on a swinging bunt that got between Neely and first baseman Luke Heyman. After a strikeout the bases were still loaded and with light hitting Patrick Herrera at the plate, the outfield was drawn in to prevent a bloop hit. Herrera hit a line drive straight at Shelnut and over his head, clearing the bases for a 7-3 UK lead.

Discussing what proved to be the game-winning double by Herrera, Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said, “I think he has four extra-base hits on the year, so the outfield is playing fairly shallow. We've seen it, Shelnut took a couple steps in and the ball went over his head. That was the difference, but we did get a chance to get two runners in scoring position and then base hit there again, and we just didn't get it done, simple as that."

In the bottom of the tenth, Caglianone singled up the middle and advanced to second one out later when Colby Shelton was hit by a pitch. After Donay struck out, Shelnut walked to load the bases and Yost doubled down the left field line to drive home Calianone and Shelton. Landon Russell was brought in to pinch hit for Robertson but he struck out on a high 2-2 fast ball.

Gator notes: Caglianone had two hits to stretch his consecutive games hit streak to 30, tying Jacob Young for the school record. His hitting streak is the 7th longest in SEC history. Caglianone has been on base in 37 consecutive games.  

UF LACROSSE: Gators overpower Virginia; on to NCAA quarterfinals

The Gators are on their way to the NCAA quarterfinals after dominating No. 5 seed Virginia, 13-8, Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville. With the score tied at 7-7, the Gators got a go-ahead goal by Ashley Gonzalez late in the third quarter and never looked back. It was the 19th straight win for the Gators (19-2), who are in the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2022 and the eighth time in program history. Florida’s 19 wins are tied for the school record, first set in 2012.

Gonzalez (three goals, two assists, Daniele Pavinelli (four goals, one assist) and Maggi Hall (two goals, three assists) led Florida’s steady offensive attack while goalkeeper Elyse Finelle registered six saves.

Florida advances to the quarterfinals Thursday against No. 4 seed Maryland in College Park. Earlier in the year, the Gators rallied from a 7-2 halftime deficit to take down Maryland, 13-12, in overtime in College Park.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Missouri State, which is Division I in all sports but football, is leaving the Missouri Valley Conference to join Conference USA in 2025. Missouri State will be the 10th member of Conference USA and the third former D1AA team to join the league since 2022.

The move is all about paychecks and playoff revenue. It’s getting more and more difficult for D1AA teams to schedule games with their power conference big brothers, particularly in a year or two when the SEC goes to a 9-game schedule. The solution is to join a Division I conference. Since every Division I conference will get a slice of the playoff pie, it will go a long way toward making up for the lost revenue of one of those we’ll take a beating for a paycheck games.

This is going to be a dilemma moving forward but there are practical solutions. The one that makes the most sense is for Division I to split into two divisions. Division I could expand by adding the American Athletic Conference. Division IA could be the other Group of Five teams and some of the better D1AA leagues. Give them their own playoff, which would probably get far better ratings that some of these silly bowl games. The lesser D1AA leagues could merge into Division II.

Doing that would make sense, which is precisely why odds are against it happening, at least until there is no such thing as the NCAA anymore. When the NCAA is dead and buried, we might be amazed at how many common sense, practical solutions to age old problems can be found.