The road to Oklahoma City begins today for No. 4 seeded Gators

Kendra Falby belts out a hit against Oklahoma State (Gator Bait photo by Chris Spears)

Tim Walton will never be accused of being the chairman of the bored. How can you ever be bored when you have a softball team that 48 hours after giving up 12 runs in an inning for a run-rule loss to arch-rival Florida State goes out and run-rules Georgia in Athens? How can you get bored when one week after getting run-ruled by FSU you blow a 6-run lead in the bottom of the seventh only to win the game in the top of the ninth?

Walton isn’t bored in the least. If anything, he’s having more fun than he’s had in a few years. The Gators (46-12), who last weekend won the Southeastern Conference Tournament, begin their quest for a 12th trip to the Women’s College World Series in Walton’s 19 years on the job at noon today at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium against Atlantic Sun Conference champ Florida Gulf Coast (37-19).

“We’ve done some pretty weird things,” Walton said after the Gators worked out Thursday morning.

Yes, it is rather weird for an elite program with the tradition of Florida to have a China Syndrome meltdown against Florida State, at KSP no less. It’s also weird for that same team to 48 hours later to run-rule Georgia, which was ranked ninth in the country at the time.

Weirder still, one week after the FSU meltdown, to experience another meltdown in the bottom of the seventh against FSU in Tallahassee. After blowing a 7-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, then a 6-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Gators came back to score two runs in the top of the ninth to walk away with a mind-boggling 15-13 win.

“Nobody gets run-ruled by your rival on a Wednesday, then turns around on Friday and plays your next biggest rival – maybe your biggest rival – and then run rules them,” Walton said. “Nobody does that. I’ve never seen anybody do that. Usually, when you get run-ruled by somebody there’s another one coming because that just doesn’t happen by fluke. Run-rule a team on the road after getting run-ruled by giving up 12 runs in an inning with a lead. Nobody does that, but this team is definitely resilient and has the ability to turn the page really quickly.”

The Georgia series in which the Gators won two of three and the wild win at FSU seem to have fueled the Florida jet. The Gators have won eight in a row and nine of their last 10. They’ve gone from the outside looking in to hosting the Gainesville Regional and if the Gators plunder and pillage the field of Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Atlantic (41-14) and South Alabama (32-18-1), they’ll host a super regional next week with the winner of the Lafayette Regional (Louisiana, Princeton, Baylor or Ole Miss).

Following the win at FSU, the Gators swept Texas A&M to move from 16th to 12th in RPI and into the top ten in the rankings. After going scorched earth for three straight wins at the SEC Tournament in Auburn, the Gators moved into sixth in RPI, fifth in the national rankings and then the No. 4 seed for the NCAA.

Not bad for a team with 11 new faces that didn’t return a single pitcher who had faced even one batter in 2023. Walton could have dipped into the transfer portal to find a pair of seasoned starting pitchers but instead chose to go with a pair of freshmen, 1st-team All-SEC Keagan Rothrock and 2nd-team All-SEC Ava Brown, who doubles at first base when not in the circle. Two other freshmen – Mia Williams and Ariel Kowalewski – are in the starting lineup along with All-SEC transfers Jocelyn Erickson and Korbe Otis. Erickson was the SEC Player of the Year and Otis is one of the finalists for national player of the year.

They’ve blended in seamlessly with last year’s SEC Player of the Year Skylar Wallace, Kendra Falby, Reagan Walsh and Katie Kistler. Wallace, Falby and Walsh made first team All-SEC.

Wallace, who endured a 7-47 April, made the SEC Tournament her personal playground, going 7-9 with homers in all three games and nine RBI. Wallace is 16-34 since the second FSU game with four homers, four doubles and 16 RBI. Hitting .399 with 13 homers and 59 RBI for the season, Wallace leads the nation in runs scored (81) and ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.550).

Her rebound from a dismal May to a return to prominence is reminiscent of the Gators big bounce from the run-rule loss to FSU to the current 8-game winning streak. Looking back on the loss to FSU, Wallace sees that almost as a blessing in disguise.

“I think it was a long time coming,” Wallace said. “Honestly, we were getting away with a lot of things that we should have not gotten away with. So, it was in sense a wake-up call for us that we needed to have the crap beaten out of us a little bit and be woken up and just shown that we can do better. We got to do the little things correctly, so that the big things come in nicely. So, the locker room was like alright, ‘we deserve that one.’ I think we all looked around were like, ‘Damn, okay, how can we agree regroup and learn from this and be better tomorrow and moving forward,’ and I think you've seen that since that game, the improvements we've made, the communication that we've had, and just the trust that we've had with each other, and I think that speaks for itself. But the FSU game. They did that, we deserved that one, but I'm excited that we got past, that we're rolling now and seeing where we can go.”

Wallace hits third in a lineup that leads the Southeastern Conference in all but a couple of offensive categories. The Gators hit .342 as a team and average eight runs every time out. The ability to score runs in bunches has allowed Rothrock and Brown the cushion to get away with an occasional mistake because when the Gators get to hit, they can make it up in a hurry.

Walton has won six SEC championships and two national titles. Since arriving at Florida he’s 972-235, so he knows a good team when he sees one, and this, he says, is a very good softball team.

“They’re tough, they’re strong, they’re competitive,” Walton said. “I think we are a little bit emotional. You don’t give up 12 runs in an inning, seven runs in an inning without being a little bit emotional, but I think the one thing it showed me is their resilience, their toughness. They want to win. They want to win and you can hear it, you can feel it. You can feel it against Missouri. They want to win. That was something we haven’t had here in a couple of years where we wanted to win, but we knew we just knew we were going to lose. It’s different.

“This team is like, okay so we’re down by seven, so what? We can find a way. We scored seven runs in an inning with two outs, two strikes. I think we’re going to be okay. I think that’s the one thing this team has shown me is that really the sky’s the limit. I’ve been telling them this for two months. This is a really good team and when this team gets going it’s going to be tough to beat and we’re showing that here over the last 10 games. We’ve played a lot better and it’s been super fun to watch. I think the roles have started to slide into place, too, and it’s made it a little bit more confidence upstairs.”  

UF LACROSSE: Gators whack Maryland, 15-9, move into NCAA final four

Maggi Hall scored six goals and had an assist Thursday afternoon as the Gators (20-2) shocked 4th-seeded Maryland, 15-9, to move into the final four of the NCAA Tournament where they will face No. 1 seeded Northwestern in next Friday’s semifinals.

Florida scored 32 seconds into the game on a goal by Danielle Pavinelli. The blitz continued the rest of the first quarter as UF built a 9-0 lead before Maryland got on the scoreboard. It was 10-2 at the half and 14-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Hall broke the Florida school record for points in a season (107). Danielle Pavinelli had two goals and two assists while Emily Heller had two goals and an assist and Madison Waters had two goals. Goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle had 10 saves.

UF BASEBALL: Gators fall to Georgia, 9-4

Florida’s hopes of keeping their NCAA streak alive at 17 seasons were dealt a severe blow in Athens Thursday evening as Georgia (39-12, 17-11) cruised to a 9-4 win in Athens. Florida fell to 26-26 overall, 11-17 in SEC play. To make the NCAA Tournament, the Gators need to come away with wins in the final two games of the series, then pick up one or two wins in next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama.

Georgia touched Florida starter Piece Coppola (0-3) for three first inning runs on a hit batter, a single, a pair of fly balls and a 2-run homer by Paul Toetz. Dillon Carter hit the first of his two home runs in the second inning as Georgia increased the lead to 4-0.

Florida countered with a home run by Luke Heyman in the third and closed the gap to 4-2 in the fourth when Brody Donay homered. But in the fifth Georgia bunched three hits together to increase the lead to 7-2. In the seventh, Carter hit his second home run for a 9-2 lead. Florida scored two in the ninth on a 2-run homer by Heyman, his second of the game and 13th of the season.

Georgia starter Kolten Smith (9-2) got the win with 12 strikeouts in eight innings.

Jac Caglianone’s 30-game hitting streak was broken but he did reach base on an intentional walk, extending his on-base streak to 38 consecutive games.

The Gators face Georgia at 1 p.m. today (SEC Network+).

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: It is entirely possible the Gators will add their second transfer of the week today when former Arizona State wide receiver Elijhah Badger chooses between Florida and Arizona. Washington was thought to be in the mix, but On3 is reporting that it will be a Florida-Arizona decision.

On this one, go with Florida. Badger was a teammate of Ricky Pearsall, who was at Arizona State prior to transferring to Florida. Pearsall and UF quarterback Graham Mertz remain closest of friends so it’s likely Badger has gotten an earful of how Mertz and UF wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales transformed him into a first round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers.

Badger will be a good fit for the Gators as will corner Cormani McClain, who Tuesday announced he’s transferring to UF from Colorado. McClain is a former 5-star recruit out of Lakeland, where his position coach was former UF All-American Ahmad Black.

Florida needs one more experienced wide receiver and Badger certainly fills that need while McClain helps shore up corner where the numbers are a bit thin.

What we have seen from Florida head coach Billy Napier is a very sound approach to the portal. The Gators haven’t gone overboard but have been very selective in the way they’ve addressed needs. The portal isn’t going away, but used judiciously to bring in experienced, talented players while allowing youngsters to develop is a very sound approach. Let the others turn restocking into a crapshoot. Napier will bring in fewer players but will bring in ones who can provide immediate help at positions that need added depth or an experienced hand.