Stacey Nelson did not receive the national recognition Tim Tebow did, but she may have been better at her sport than any other athlete in Gainesville.
Nelson led the Gators to two straight Women's College World Series appearances, falling just short this year in the championship series against Washington.
Her relaxed, humble attitude off the field was matched only by her intensity and dominance once she stepped into the circle. With 41 wins on the year, Nelson led the Gators to a 63-5 record and a No. 1 ranking for most of the season.
Nelson was so instrumental in making the Gators softball program a national-championship contender that coach Tim Walton said she, along with senior Kim Waleszonia, will be honored even after their four outstanding years on the field.
"As long as I coach here, you won't ever see a No. 5 (Waleszonia), you won't ever see a No. 42 (Nelson) on anybody else's back," Walton said. "We don't really retire numbers, but they won't be worn as long as I'm the coach here at the University of Florida."
After a wildly successful junior year and a run to the school's first WCWS, Nelson faced high expectations entering her senior year &ndash maybe even the possibility that the miraculous 70-5 season in 2008 couldn't be topped.
But just as UF kept winning in record-breaking fashion, Nelson continued to improve as a pitcher and as a leader.
In 2008, Nelson joked that no-hitters might not be her thing - the one accomplishment a pitcher who had seemingly done it all could not yet add to her list. In 2009, Nelson threw two of them. She also became the first Gator to strike out 1,000 batters and holds nearly every pitching mark in the UF record books.
With that kind of success, it's easy to assume the California native would be very aware of her stats and each record she's broken. But not Nelson, who won the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for her notable achievements on and off the field.
"I really don't (keep track of my numbers)," Nelson said. "People don't believe me when I say I don't know my stats, but I really don't."
Even the list of accolades Nelson earned near the end of and after her final season is remarkable. In addition to the Senior CLASS Award, she was a top-three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, earned first-team All-America honors from two different organizations and, perhaps most impressively, was selected as one of five pitchers on the USA Softball Women's National Team.
For dominating the competition throughout the season and during her entire career, as well as staking her claim as the best pitcher in program history, Stacey Nelson is the alligatorSports No. 2 UF Athlete of 2008-09.
BY THE NUMBERS: Nelson is the second athlete to receive a vote from all six panelists. She received four second-place votes, one third-place vote and onefourth-place vote.
