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Thursday, March 28, 2024

At the end of the 2009 season, the general consensus was that the 2010 UF softball team’s infield would feature a quartet of upperclassmen ready to build on the excellence of the 2009 unit.

It only took one freshman to change that plan around completely.

Freshman shortstop Brittany Walker from Tomball, Texas, has parlayed some excellent work in practice and a stellar fall season into a spot in the starting lineup.

Her emergence, along with Megan Bush’s successful transition over to first base, has led to coach Tim Walton deciding to keep junior Kelsey Bruder in the outfield for at least one more season.

“Brittany Walker was probably the biggest factor (in the decision),” Walton said. “Her ability to play the infield is maybe a little bit higher than initial expectations.”

The shift allows Bruder to stay in a position where she made the All-Southeastern Conference defensive team last year, and moves Bush away from the spot where she had only a .937 career fielding percentage and led the team with 10 errors last season. 

“We have a good combo going with Megan and our new freshman Brittany Walker mixing at short and Megan taking over some duties at first,” Bruder said.  “She looks great over there.”

Rounding out the infield are All-SEC second baseman Aja Paculba and senior stalwart Corrie Brooks at third base.

The speedy Paculba will once again be batting leadoff, where she will use her ability to hit for a high average and her propensity for drawing walks to set the table for Francesca Enea, Bruder and Tiffany DeFelice in the three, four and five spots.

“We’re far from having the great scoring machine we’re looking for, and this is close to what I’d like to have, but the speed-power-average balance is in place for sure,” Walton said.

As for Brooks, she’s been a constant presence at UF over the last three years, starting in a total of 200 games and drastically improving her batting average each year.

When talking about UF’s leadership, Walton cited Brooks as one of the players who leads by example.

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“Corrie doesn’t say or do a whole lot as far as being a leader goes, she just goes out and plays ball,” Walton said. “She goes out and plays hard every day.”

Having players with the Brooks’ mentality should come in handy on a team loaded with freshman talent.

“(Walker and Brittany Schutte) are going to be opening day starters, and we’re looking for some good things out of the two of them,” Walton said. “The other two that could see some significant time in the first weekend, (Samantha) Holle and (Kelsey) Horton, can do some things too. They’ve both had good falls and both are working hard.”

Still, Walton doesn’t expect a roster with only two seniors compared to seven freshmen to have any issues with leadership.

“We lead a little differently,” Walton said. “When you talk about a female sport and female athletes it’s hard to pick one individual that’s typically a leader.

“There’s a lot from the junior class in terms of leadership, personality, and a little more flare, and there’s where the leadership is going to come from.”

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