Florida’s softball team is deep.
Even after winning the program’s first national championship last season and graduating pitcher Hannah Rogers and infielder Stephanie Tofft, the Gators don’t have many holes to fill.
Florida returns players such as junior infielder Kelsey Stewart, who set a UF single-season record with 102 hits last year as a sophomore, senior Lauren Haeger, who led the team with 20 home runs last year, and sophomore pitcher Delanie Gourley will look to improve on her freshman campaign in which she went 15-1 and tossed the program’s first postseason no-hitter.
But despite the vast amount of talent on Florida’s roster coach Tim Walton has at hand, he isn’t quite sure how he’s going to decide the lineups — so he asked the players themselves.
"The other day after we scrimmaged, I had our players write out three different lineups," Walton said.
Each lineup included Walton’s three possible starting pitchers for the season – Gourley, Haeger and freshman Aleshia Ocasio.
"I wanted them to see how hard it was to actually write in the lineup right now with the depth and the talent we have," Walton said. "Whether they wrote themselves in the lineup or whether they wrote themselves out of the lineup, that’s gonna be the biggest key for our team is really defining the character of our team, being honest with one another and being honest with themselves."
The team does have question marks, though.
The Gators will look to replace the consistent production they received from Rogers, who finished the season 30-8 and won the 2014 Southeastern Conference Female Athlete of the Year Award.
Although Walton said he didn’t consider Rogers the ace of the staff last year, he said it would be very difficult to replace her.
"When I wrote her name in the lineup, I expected her to go out and give us seven innings and we weren’t gonna have to go to anybody else," he said. "So it’s gonna change my philosophy or at least my feelings in regards to writing in Aleshia Ocasio as a freshman or writing in Delanie Gourley as a sophomore. How many complete games has Lauren Haeger thrown in her career? You know, those kind of things."
The other question mark is the void left by Tofft, whose .356 average was second best on the team. Tofft also slugged 11 home runs and knocked in 65 RBI while manning third base.
With Tofft gone, Walton said he’s looking to junior Taylore Fuller to step in and fill her spot at the hot corner.
Replacing Tofft won’t be easy. She and Stewart were the only players to start all 67 games last season. Fuller played in 51 of those games and started 35, with most of her appearances coming in the outfield and at catcher.
While Fuller hit .242 last year, well below Tofft’s line, she slugged 10 home runs in only 95 at-bats – a ratio that was best on the team last year.
"Taylore played a lot more her freshman year than she did her sophomore year, especially down the stretch," he said. "So I think she’s gonna handle it fine. I think the main key is figuring out where we’re gonna play her. Are we gonna play her at third base and bat her fifth? Or are we gonna play her at third base and bat her eighth?"
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @pinakk12
Coach Tim Walton was more than happy to empty his bench in Florida's 19-3 win over Florida A&M on Wednesday. “I think overall the main priority is to get everybody at-bats and to keep our timing right," he said.
