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Friday, March 29, 2024

2018 Gators should be remembered for what they did, not what they couldn’t do

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c469e0cb-cf19-1ad0-755a-166eaf567593"><span>The entire Florida team celebrates after punching its ticket to the Women’s College World Series for the second-consecutive season. The Gators also won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles.</span></span></p>

The entire Florida team celebrates after punching its ticket to the Women’s College World Series for the second-consecutive season. The Gators also won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles.

Nothing said at Saturday night’s press conference indicated that the UF softball team was disappointed in how its season ended, but it was evident.

You saw it in the tears welling up in the eyes of the players, and you heard it in the cracks of their voices and in the deep, unplanned breaths taken between phrases.

However, despite being eliminated by Oklahoma at the Women’s College World Series for the second-straight season, the Florida Gators should have no shame in how they played in 2018.  

They won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles, exhibited one of the nation’s most dominant bullpens and sent off one of the program’s all-time great senior classes. And losing to a tough Oklahoma team during a lights-out performance by senior pitcher Paige Parker is not a variable that UF could control.

“I told my team after the game there’s not a whole lot you can do when you got a pitcher (throwing) strike one all day long,” coach Tim Walton said after the game. “I give her (Parker) all the credit. She did a wonderful job.”

Although it came up short in Oklahoma City, UF eased through its regular season with a 47-8 record and a 20-4 record in conference play. The closest SEC competitor was Georgia, who finished four games back at 16-8.

The effort lifted Florida to the first-overall seed in the conference tournament, where it navigated past powerhouse programs Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.

It was the first time that seniors on the Gators’ roster - pitcher Aleshia Ocasio, catcher Janell Wheaton, third baseman Nicole DeWitt and first baseman Kayli Kvistad‒- conquered both the regular-season and tournament SEC championships.

However, the stand-out players for the Gators were juniors Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill.

Both were named as finalists for the USA Softball Player of the Year award, while Lorenz won SEC Player of the Year honors, and Barnhill took the conference’s Pitcher of the Year award for the second-straight year.

Lorenz finished the campaign with a team-leading .416 batting average and a .582 on-base percentage. She reached base safely in all 67 contests and led a team that set the NCAA single-season record for walks with 70.

Barnhill had a 29-3 record with a microscopic 1.08 ERA. Opponents only hit .119 against the right-hander in 2018 and didn’t hit at all in seven games. She strung together complete-game no-hitters against Iowa State on Feb. 24, Georgia Southern on Feb. 25, Kentucky on March 9 and South Florida on March 21, including her first-career perfect game in the Gators’ 9-0 win over North Florida on Feb. 14.  

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She and Ocasio combined for no-hitters against Baylor on March 3 and again at the Gainesville Regional against Bethune-Cookman on May 18.

Yet, the senior pitcher had two hitless games of her own, which came against Florida International on March 28 and in regional play against Ohio State on May 20. She also combined with freshman Natalie Lugo to no-hit Hampton on March 30.

Wheaton and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha were the only two Gators to have a hand in all of the hitless performances. In her first season promoted to associate head coach, Rocha marshalled the Florida bullpen to 10 hitless performances and a 1.43 ERA as a team.

With Rocha calling the games pitch by pitch, and Lorenz and Barnhill returning for the Gators, the future is bright. Yet, the importance of their exiting senior class cannot be overlooked.

Ocasio, Wheaton, DeWitt and Kvistad were the last Florida players remaining from the 2015 National Championship roster. The experience they brought to the team goes beyond the wins and losses.

Ocasio was a utility player with almost unlimited versatility. She was comfortable at every position aside from catcher and played in the circle and in the outfield in 2018. She also possessed an electric bat that knocked in 36 runs last season.

“I’ll never play with an athlete like that ever again,” Lorenz said of Ocasio in Saturday’s press conference. “She’s just a once-in-a-lifetime kid that I’ve been around.”

Wheaton caught nearly every game for Florida this season. Her experience behind the plate and ability to frame pitches helped Barnhill strike out 300 batters two years in a row.

DeWitt and Kvistad were arguably the biggest keys to the Florida offense. They were the heart of the lineup and batted directly after Lorenz. Next to each other in the 2018 lineup, they combined for 20 home runs and 101 RBIs.

Both DeWitt and Ocasio will play professional ball in the National Pro Fastpitch League next season after being drafted on April 23. The Chicago Bandits took Ocasio 10th overall, and the USSSA Pride selected DeWitt with the 17th pick.

“It’s definitely been a journey,” Ocasio said. “To play with this senior class and some of the greatest athletes ‒- we have Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill, Player of the Year‒- it’s been amazing to learn from everybody and to just play alongside some of the people who are going to go down as some of the greatest players.

“I’m going to remember it forever, wearing this Gators uniform.”

You can follow Mark Stine on Twitter @mstinejr or contact him at mstine@alligator.org.

The entire Florida team celebrates after punching its ticket to the Women’s College World Series for the second-consecutive season. The Gators also won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles.

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