Red-hot Gators enter NCAA Tournament in thick of national title hunt
GAINESVILLE — Florida center fielder Kendra Falby’s boom box blared as the Gators’ team bus bounced to the winning beat.
Coach Tim Walton was all smiles — happy to be along for the ride.
“We were literally shaking the bus,” Falby recalled Thursday. “The bus driver is probably like, ‘Oh my god. Coach Walton is probably going to have to pay for tires.’
“But you could just feel, he loves it.”
UF (46-12) enters Friday’s Gainesville Regional against Florida Gulf Coast (37-19) as the NCAA Tournament’s No. 4 seed and riding an eight-game winning streak following the program’s first SEC Tournament title since 2019.
Walton’s squad is tight-knit, tough-minded and talented top to bottom a season after his Gators were woefully out of tune during their first losing season in conference play since their coach’s 2006 arrival.
The addition of 11 newcomers, led by Louisville transfer slugger Korbe Otis and the nation’s top recruiting class, and pitching coach Chelsey Dobbins has sparked a revival and reinvigorated Walton, even if he downplays the notion.
“I’m 51 years old. I’m not old,” he said Thursday. “I hate losing. It’s made me appreciate winning.
“I truly appreciate the energy that we’re bringing to win. It’s been fun.”
Walton is accustomed to success.
During the 2022 season, he reached 1,000 college softball wins faster than anyone but Arizona legend Mike Candrea en route to his team’s 11th trip in 14 years to the Women’s College World Series.
The reversal of fortunes in 2023 blindsided everyone but also set the tone for a turnaround.
“No one wants to feel the way we felt last year,” Falby said. “We walked into the season. We all knew we’re not doing that. We’re not going out like that.”
Florida’s return to the top was not without its rough patches.
All-American shortstop Skylar Wallace followed a record-setting season with a soul-crushing April slump when she was 5 of 29 (.172) during consecutive SEC series against LSU, Missouri and South Carolina.
“There were times at night I was crying in bed,” the 24-year-old said.
Around the same time, freshman phenom pitcher Keagan Rothrock, the centerpiece of the Gators’ ballyhooed 2023 class, experienced her own crisis of confidence. She allowed 8 earned runs in five innings during a March 28 loss at Mississippi State, and then gave up 6 runs in 5.2 innings during an April 12 defeat at Missouri.
“My mechanics were fine the whole time,” the 19-year-old said Thursday. “It was more me mentally. I couldn’t get through it. I had to figure out how to get out of my own head.”
A 12-3 drubbing in five innings by Florida State on April 24 at UF’s Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium — the Seminoles scored all dozen runs in the fifth to run-rule their rival — could have sent Walton’s entire squad down a rabbit hole.
Instead, the Gators traveled to Georgia two days later and run-ruled the Bulldogs 9-1, displaying mental toughness and offensive firepower.
“Nobody does that,” Walton said. “I’ve never seen anybody do that. Usually, when you get run-ruled by somebody there’s another one coming.
“This team is definitely resilient and has the ability to turn the page really quickly.”
The combination could be critical to make another deep postseason run under Walton, whose teams won the 2014 and ’15 national titles and and finished runner-up in ’17.
Otis, who leads UF with .467 batting average and .596 on-base percentage, is a finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, while Wallace, who bats .399 with a team-best 13 home runs and 81 runs scored, was 8 of 10 in the SEC Tournament.
Falby leads UF with 81 hits, catcher Jocelyn Erickson withs 75 RBI and designated hitter’s Reagan Walsh’s 124 total bases are second to Wallace’s 128.
“One thing this team has shown me is we can go,” Walton said. “When we go, we go.”
Meanwhile, Rothrock, the winning pitcher during three SEC Tournament games in three days, has become the ace on the mound the Gators have lacked for some time.
“[In] 2011, we ran a little freshman pitcher out there named Hannah Rogers every day,” Walton recalled. “That kid is a four-time All-American. Keagan Rothrock is on that pace.”
The Gators are on a torrid pace themselves, but hope to just be getting started.
“We’re done yet,” Wallace said. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
NCAA Gainesville Regional
Where: Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium
When: Friday-Sunday
- No. 4 Florida (46-12) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (37-19), SEC Network
- Florida Atlantic (41-14) and South Alabama (32-18-1), 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
- Winners in meet 1 p.m. Saturday, losers 6 p.m. Saturday
- Saturday winners meet Sunday, time to be determined