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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>Justine McLean bats during Florida’s 2-0 win against Ole Miss on March 9 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.</p>

Justine McLean bats during Florida’s 2-0 win against Ole Miss on March 9 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

Florida surprised many in 2013.

After the graduation of outfielder Michelle Moultrie — UF’s all-time batting average leader with a .385 clip at the plate — and the transfers of Cheyenne Coyle and Sami and Kasey Fagan in 2012, the Gators were left with a young team.

They were projected to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division and started the season ranked No. 14 in preseason polls after beginning the season in the top 10 for four straight years.

With five freshmen in the starting lineup, UF proved it was still a contender — taking both the SEC regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 2009 and reaching the Women’s College World Series for the fifth time in six years.

Florida returned all but one starter from that 2013 team and has only two seniors on its roster — right-handed pitcher Hannah Rogers and third baseman Stephanie Tofft.

“That’s one thing you overlook when you bring back as many starters from the year before when we went to the Women’s College World Series,” coach Tim Walton said.

“We are young, and at times we’ve shown silly mistakes from a team and they are a lot of youthful mistakes. The speed of the game sometimes dictates what you can kind of make of mistakes.”

Despite returning 12 of its 13 players who started at least 24 games, Florida is still finding ways to utilize its freshmen in the lineup in 2014.

Outfielder Justine McLean has started 39 games so far this year for UF, accumulating a .316 batting average and a .979 fielding percentage.

The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native is one of three Florida players with at least a .300 batting average, 28 runs and 10 stolen bases on the year.

Left-handed pitcher Delanie Gourley has established herself as the No. 2 starter in the rotation behind Rogers, starting 15 games and pitching nearly a third of Florida’s innings this season.

Chelsea Herndon, a utility player, has 24 starts this year — 14 at second base, one at shortstop and nine in the outfield. The Carrollton, Texas, native has a .271 clip at the plate and seven extra-base hits.

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“I’m really impressed with them,” first baseman Taylor Schwarz said. “Even since fall when we had 6 a.m.’s, they were always there, always on time, always working hard.

“This year, it’s really weird to see someone where I was in their position last year — and I still feel like a freshman sometimes — but their composure and their attitude and positivity throughout no matter what were going through has really been impressive.”

Florida opened 2014 with 22 straight wins — including victories against top-25 teams in South Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon — and spent five weeks at the No. 1 spot in the country.

But the Gators went 9-8 in its ensuing 17 contests, including dropping four consecutive games for the first time since losing six straight from March 25, 2011 to April 3, 2011.

“I think when we had No. 1 next to our name, there was a lot of pressure,” Schwarz said. “I think we play better when we’re the underdogs.”

With just 10 games left in the regular season and Florida back to its winning ways after claiming six straight victories, Walton is confident in the capabilities of his young team to finish strong heading into postseason play.

“I’ve said it from Day 1: I really like our team,” Walton said.

“Are we talented enough to win the Women’s College World Series? I think yes. Are we capable of that? I think yes.

“But there’s so many other factors that go into not only winning the next game, let alone looking that far down the road and I think we have so many things to still continue to improve on.”

Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126

Justine McLean bats during Florida’s 2-0 win against Ole Miss on March 9 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

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