The Time Is Right: Florida Gators Softball Is Peaking Into Serious Contenders
It’s simple.
Florida softball is peaking at the right time.
Amanda Scarborough, a two-time All-American pitcher with Texas A&M and now a college softball analyst for ESPN will tell you that peaking at the right time is key in the sport.
“We always say you don’t win national championships in February,” Scarborough said in a recent episode of ESPN’s 7Innings Podcast, which chronicles the sport of college softball. “You don’t win them in March.
“But Florida may be getting hot at the right time.”
Despite winning their first 14 games of the season, Tim Walton’s Gators didn’t look all that sharp early in the season. The Gators will take what they can get, but walk-off wins against mid-tier teams like Jacksonville, Georgia Southern and McNeese State weren’t exactly displays of Florida playing at the Gator Standard.
On the same day the Gators walked it off against Georgia Southern, Walton picked up his 800th win as Florida softball’s head coach. But in the press conference following the double-header against Charlotte and Georgia Southern, relishing his milestone was the last thing on his mind.
Fast forward to this week, and the Gators are 33 games into their 50-game regular season slate. Florida has coughed up a game here and there, but the Gators’ four losses are pretty mundane.
The largest loss of the season came at the hands of the now tenth-ranked rival Seminoles on March 6 to the tune of a 2-7 loss.
Of Florida’s three other losses, two came during conference play, with the other coming from a heartbreaking 6-8 loss to No. 24 UCF on March 24.
The Gators haven’t lost to an unranked team in 2021.
And though one of Florida’s four losses came last weekend in the series opener against the No. 20-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, the Gators have caught the attention of the college softball world in recent weeks.
Florida surged into the national conversation following its series sweep of LSU March 26-28.
The Tigers were ranked No. 13/11 when they entered Gainesville. LSU now sits at No. 17 in the country.
“That sweep of LSU was huge for Florida,” 7Innings co-host Kayla Braud said. Braud helped the Alabama Crimson Tide to a title in 2012.
“I think to go and get a quality, top-25 opponent sweep is always a really big thing,” Braud added.
Though they haven’t all been sweeps, Florida has yet to drop a conference series. And the members of the 7Innings podcast are seeing the same things that us at home see.
“If you start in the circle, Elizabeth Hightower is making a really good case for herself to be SEC Pitcher of the Year with what she’s done so far,” Braud said. “She’s undefeated in conference play and has just been really solid… Someone who has emerged and gotten better as her career has gone on.”
Hightower, a junior, pitched for 86.1 innings through 27 appearances in her first two years in Gainesville. The Monticello, Florida native has already surpassed that in just 22 appearances in 2021.
Hightower has become Florida’s ace in the circle.
“She reminds me of the pitcher that almost say, ‘Hey, I’m throwing you a screwball and here it comes on three different planes.’,” 7Innings podcast co-host Michele Smith said of Hightower.
“And teams still aren’t hitting it… With just one pitch, you can win a national championship with it.”
Elizabeth Hightower isn’t Kelly Barnhill. She’s not going to throw a flashy rise ball that has batters chasing pitches all over the box. But she is going to make it difficult for you to make contact.
And behind her is a stingy defense that’s as good as any in the country.
“We always know that they’ll have strong defense,” Braud said. “They have only 14 errors on the year. And as I’m watching the rest of the SEC play right now, it is not clean.
“For me, the key is that strong defense that we know Florida always brings… Walton just prepares them defensively.”
Meanwhile, the Gators’ offense has historically been, well, hit or miss. Inconsistencies and the inability to come up with timely hitting has been the bane of Florida softball for nearly a decade.
That’s beginning to shift.
It started last season when Charla Echols transferred in and was lighting up pitchers alongside Kendyl Lindaman, who were both hitting above .400. But a premature ending to the 2020 campaign kept us from seeing what exactly was in store for Florida’s lineup.
We’re learning now.
And we’re learning that Florida’s entire lineup is capable causing damage.
In Florida’s sweep of LSU two weekends ago, Echols and Lindaman struggled. Echols was just 2-for-8 on the series, while Lindaman was 3-for-9.
“Cottrill, Lindsey, Hoover… These are players that were able to step up and give Florida an offensive depth in their lineup that we haven’t seen yet,” Scarborough said. “But that, Coach Walton knew they were capable of that and saw in the fall.”
It’s been said that Cheyenne Lindsey acts as another leadoff hitter.
Lindsey, who sees action from the nine-hole, is hitting .378 on the season and drove in a career high five RBIs in the final game of the LSU series, including a hit that went beyond the fence.
Meanwhile, sophomore catcher Julia Cottrill has also started to find some rhythm.
Cottrill had two multi-hit games against the Tigers, including a three-RBI home run in the series opener.
All this is said without ever mentioning the name of Florida’s senior second baseman, Hannah Adams.
“Hannah Adams, for me, has been such a bright spot for the Gators,” Braud said. “And I look at her right now, and yes… she’s hitting above .450 overall. But her conference numbers, she’s also hitting .455 in conference play, which tells me that when the competition is the toughest, you step up and you’re ready to go and you’re a baller.”
Calling Adams a baller is an understatement, both from the batter’s box and second base.
Before visiting the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens last weekend, the Gators visited Jacksonville on March 31.
In the midweek contest, Adams went 3-for-3 from the plate, including a home run. Adams was running with a 13-game hit streak before going 0-for-2 against Georgia on Friday night.
From the field, Adams acts as the infield’s vacuum and has committed just three errors on 112 chances.
“It was very interesting to note how well-rounded Florida is in all areas of the game,” Smith, who called Florida’s Saturday night game against LSU, said. “As you mention Hannah Adams in the batting, but remember this was a freshman second baseman who did not commit an error her entire freshman year.”
Florida didn’t need to look their sharpest in February. And they didn’t.
The Gators didn’t need to win every game in March. And they didn’t.
But Florida softball does need to peak at the right time. And they are.
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