It would be hard to call anyone on the No. 1 ranked Gators (65-3) "weak" after everything they have accomplished this season.
But if a casual fan were to scroll down the lineup card to the No. 9 spot, they may make the assumption that sophomore Corrie Brooks might be the UF player to fear the least.
As Gainesville prepares to welcome California (43-25) for the first Super Regional ever held in Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, those close to the team know that Brooks has become as dependable as any other starter.
More than three months ago, the Gators opened up their season with a 5-0 win in the USF-Wilson tournament in Tampa.
The group of 20 players had yet to form an identity, and already the first injury of the season struck.
Freshman third baseman Shaunice Harris tore her ACL and would be out for the rest of the season.
The only other player who had been taking reps at third base was penciled into the lineup for what would end up being the rest of UF's historic run.
"I said to myself, 'I'm going to have to step up, step into this role,'" Brooks said. "My teammates helped me a lot. They told me, 'You can do it. We believe in you.'"
It proved to be a big role to fill, but she would go on to start 65 of 68 games at perhaps the toughest position in softball.
Hitters often come to the plate with a variety of skills designed to make the third baseman's life difficult.
But Brooks plays closer to the batter than any sane person should, with a glove and a mouth guard her only defense.
"Some of them are hitters, slashers and bunters," she said. "So there are those times when they come up and you're not sure if they're going to hit it right back at you."
Through the early part of the year, the adjustment to full-time starter wasn't always an easy one, in the field or in the dugout.
While the rest of her teammates were lighting it up and having career years, Brooks was still making the adjustment to the college game.
"I thought I'd come in here and do the same thing I had done in high school," she said. "It's a lot tougher than you think it is. Pitchers are a lot better."
In her first 29 games she carried a .224 average and committed six errors in the field.
At that point, Southeastern Conference play had just begun, and the level of play was only going to get tougher for the sophomore.
The next game rolled around, a Saturday contest to close a series with Arkansas in Fayetteville.
That 7-2 victory over the Razorbacks marked the turning point in Brooks' season.
She scratched out two hits, drove in a run and never looked back.
Over her next 38 games, she raised her average to .279, hit three home runs and played the role of a sure-handed hot corner as the Gators, seemingly, forgot how to lose.
"My confidence and limiting myself to swinging at good pitches have really helped me," she said.
And last weekend, she helped the team on the biggest of stages.
Brooks capped a 7-2 win against Georgia Tech with a line-drive shot over the center field fence.
The next day, she got UF on the board with a solo home run over the left field wall against a tough Central Florida team with even tougher pitching.
In two consecutive at-bats, she tripled her home run total.
"It was awesome," she said. "Mary [Ratliff] said, 'You doubled your home runs in two days!' That felt really good, especially in post-season regional play."
The Golden Bears have their work cut out for them with a dominating Gators team that is playing in their second consecutive Super Regional. UF lost to Texas A&M in the third and decisive game last year.
The Pacific 10 is a conference rich in softball history, which the Gators pointed out often in this week's media opportunities.
Since the inaugural Women's College World Series in 1982, the Pac-10 has taken home 19 of 25 titles (the 1995 title was also won by UCLA but was later stripped away by the NCAA), including six of the last seven.
In 2002, the Golden Bears took home the program's first and only title.
"They are who we strive to be very soon," UF coach Tim Walton said.
By contrast, the SEC has never won a national championship.
This weekend, the Gators will try to show that if Brooks is their weakest link, they like their chances.
