The Florida softball team has a chance to do something incredible this year — become the second team in history to three-peat in the Women’s College World Series.
And the Gators have all the momentum they need to do so.
UF is coming off a 60-win regular season and clinched its second straight national championship, becoming just the third program in history to repeat in NCAA softball.
The season ended with a 2-1 series victory over Michigan, a team riding a 28-game win streak heading into the championship series before getting neutralized by the arm freshman Aleshia Ocasio and then-senior Lauren Haeger.
Haeger, the 2015 Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year who also took home SEC Female Player of the Year honors, graduated and is currently playing professionally for the Dallas Charge of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league.
Haeger was dominant last season, placing among the top pitchers nationally in nearly every major statistical category.
She ranked fifth in the country with a 1.23 earned run average, was fourth in shutouts with 12 and was the winning pitcher in 32 of the Gators’ 60 victories, tied for sixth-most in the nation.
Haeger also helped power the Gators’ offense by hitting .348 with 19 home runs and 71 RBI.
And now Haeger is gone.
While it will be difficult to replace Haeger’s talent on the field and her leadership off of it, that is exactly what Florida must do if it wants to become the first three-peat national champion since UCLA did it in 1988, 1989 and 1990.
To accomplish this, the Gators will rely on a strong recruiting class signed by coach Tim Walton to compliment a group of experienced returning players.
The highlight of the incoming class is Kelly Barnhill, who appears poised to take Haeger’s torch as Florida’s staff ace, even as a freshman.
The Marietta, Georgia, native was a member of 2015 USA Softball Women’s Junior National Team, with which she won a gold medal at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Junior Women’s World Championship earlier this year.
While attending Pope High School, Barnhill threw 22 no-hitters, including a perfect game in which she struck out all 21 batters she faced. In her senior year, she was named the USA Today Softball Player of the Year.
The Gators also have an abundance of returning talent.
The most notable is senior second baseman Kelsey Stewart, who led the team with an impressive .435 batting average in 2015.
Also coming back is fellow senior Taylore Fuller, who compiled a career-best 56 RBI — second most on the team.
With an influx of good young players to a roster that was already talented, the Gators are threatening to make another deep postseason run in 2016.
Florida begins its title defense on Feb. 12 in the USF Tournament against Illinois State.
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Sights from Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium June 4, 2015, as the UF softball team returned home from Oklahoma City as back-to-back national champions.
