Kelly Barnhill’s phone lit up. It was from Amanda Lorenz.
All it said was a simple phrase: “Go Gators!”
Lorenz and Barnhill were the No. 1 and No. 2 recruits of the 2015 recruiting class, according to FloSoftball. Lorenz had been committed to the Gators for years, but Barnhill’s recruitment process was much longer, more meticulous and more difficult.
The process took the Marietta, Georgia, native across the country. Her stops included visits at the usual schools in the SEC (Tennessee, South Carolina, Ole Miss), a couple trips to the Sunshine State (Florida, South Florida), and outside of the South to Stanford, Northwestern and Princeton. Barnhill even acknowledged that she might be forgetting some visits.
Most softball recruits commit in their freshman or sophomore year of high school, but just weeks ahead of signing day, Barnhill still hadn’t made a decision.
She narrowed it down to Florida and Stanford, two schools dedicated to elite softball and academics.
Barnhill took an official visit to UF on the second weekend of October, where she met Lorenz and all of the other Florida commits. Barnhill was the only one who hadn’t committed.
Lorenz had taken every opportunity to recruit Barnhill to Florida. Once, ahead of a friendly between Lorenz’s team and Barnhill’s team at the Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals, Lorenz, meeting Barnhill for the first time, dropped some hints about where the pitcher should play in college.
After an official visit, Lorenz got ahold of Barnhill’s phone number and regularly texted Barnhill.
A week and a half later, Barnhill sent a text to Lorenz and the other commits.
“Hey guys, I can’t wait to be a Gator with you …”
***
Florida’s softball program has never had a pair like Barnhill and Lorenz.
Both players have been among the best in the SEC (and perhaps the country) at their respective positions, and they have defined the last four years of Gators softball.
They also have a litany of awards attached to their names.
Lorenz is a two-time First Team All-American and the first player in UF history to be First Team All-SEC all four years of her career. She also won SEC Freshman of the Year in 2016 and SEC Player of the Year in 2018.
Barnhill is also a two-time All-American, earned All-SEC First Team honors twice and won SEC Pitcher of the Year in both 2017 and 2018. She was the USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Year and won an ESPY for Best Female Collegiate Athlete in 2017.
The Florida softball team has had stars before, but the Gators have never had two players as talented as Barnhill and Lorenz come in and leave at the same time.
Barnhill will leave the program at the end of the season as the school’s all-time strikeout leader and arguably the best pitcher in UF history. She tossed a perfect game against Georgia Southern in 2018 and has eight no-hitters in her four years at Florida.
Lorenz will be viewed as one of the best all-around hitters the Gators have ever had. The Moorpark, California, native has never had a season with an on-base percentage below .500, has swatted double-digit home runs in three-straight seasons and knocked in at least 40 runs every year. She also holds the Florida record for the most walks in a season, with 70 in 2018.
In the four years that Lorenz and Barnhill have been at Florida, the team has gone 214-43 (.833 winning percentage) overall and 72-23 in arguably the best conference in the nation. It has won the SEC regular-season championship three times, the SEC Tournament twice, and made two trips to the College World Series in 2017 and 2018.
But the one thing that both players are missing is a national championship.
When Barnhill and Lorenz joined the Gators for the 2016 season, the team was coming off back-to-back national championships and retained much of the same roster. However, the graduation of Lauren Haeger, one of the best players in Florida softball history, left a gaping hole in the roster.
Still, the Gators were ranked as the top team in the country, and Barnhill and Lorenz were impact players from Day 1.
Or Game 2, rather.
The second game of the season-opening USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament had the Gators face No. 2 Michigan in a rematch of the previous year’s Women’s College World Series. Coach Tim Walton slated Barnhill for the first start of her college career against the Wolverines.
Lorenz scored the game’s first run with an RBI single, the first hit of her college career, in the bottom of the first. The Gators scored two more in the inning and went on to beat Michigan 8-0 in five innings. Barnhill pitched all five and gave up just three hits.
“Just going out there and being able to compete at that level was just amazing,” Barnhill said. “It was one of those moments where your heart is fluttering.
“You’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening, we’re here. That’s what it is, we’re here.”
By the end of the season, Lorenz was leading the Gators in multiple offensive categories, and Barnhill was a key cog in Florida’s three-woman rotation alongside Delanie Gourley and Aleshia Ocasio. Lorenz won SEC Freshman of the Year, while Barnhill was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. The Gators went 56-7 and lost just four conference games.
But 2016 was also the beginning of heartbreaking postseason defeats. No. 1 Florida blitzed through its regional matchups, winning all three games by a combined score of 24-0, setting up a matchup against No. 16 Georgia in the Gainesville Super Regional.
The Bulldogs shocked the Gators, ending their season with a sweep.
Instead of going for a three-peat in Oklahoma City, the Gators had to watch the rest of the tournament from home.
“It was too painful for me, I literally could not watch,” Lorenz said.
“This is never going to happen again, as long as I’m here,” she told Walton. “I promise you, this is not going to happen again.”
***
The 2017 team seemed unbeatable.
The Gators returned its entire pitching staff from the previous season, and 2017 was the year that Barnhill dominated college softball.
She held a 0.51 ERA that season and allowed just 14 earned runs the entire year. Batters hit a measly .121 against her, and she tossed her second career no-hitter against Kentucky that season.
Florida had a 0.81 ERA as a team, which lapped the rest of the SEC. Offensively, Lorenz led the team in nearly every offensive category and had the sixth-highest batting average, fifth-best slugging percentage and the third-best on-base percentage in the conference.
“It felt like no one could touch my riseball, Amanda was getting on and getting hits every time she stepped up to the plate,” Barnhill said. “Everything felt very easy, I think, almost.”
The No. 1 Gators advanced to the Gainesville Super Regional to face No. 16 Alabama, but they looked like they might face the same fate as the 2016 squad after dropping the first game 3-0. However, they recovered to get back to Oklahoma City.
From there, UF won three straight games by a combined score of 20-2 to advance to the championship series against No. 10 Oklahoma.
“I remember going into the championship series, literally thinking, ‘No way were we going to be beaten,’” Lorenz said. “I remember being so confident in the people around me and (being) so excited for it because I just thought there was no possible way.”
“I didn’t think we were even going to lose one game,” Lorenz added.
Game 1 dragged on for 17 innings, lasting nearly five-and-a-half hours in total. It was the longest game in both Women’s College World Series history and UF history. Oklahoma took a lead in the top of the 17th on a home run off Barnhill that Florida couldn’t overcome, losing 7-5.
“Seven innings in college softball feels like a lot when you’re under all of that stress,” Barnhill said. “But 17 is just ridiculous.”
The next night, the Sooners ended the Gators’ dream season with a 5-4 win. UF held a 3-1 lead after the top of the second, but Oklahoma plated four in the bottom of the inning to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Just like that, Lorenz and Barnhill’s best shot at winning a national championship together was gone.
***
A year later, the Gators made another trip to Oklahoma City but fell short of a championship once again, falling to No. 3 UCLA 6-5 in the second round. A day later, they lost 2-0 to No. 4 Oklahoma and were eliminated.
This season is the last shot Barnhill and Lorenz have at winning a national championship together at UF.
But this year has been much different than the previous three.
For one, the two have been thrusted into leadership roles as the only two regular starters that are seniors.
Additionally, the team has leaned on the duo more than it ever has. The graduation of Ocasio meant that Florida’s rotation was going to be Barnhill and sophomore Natalie Lugo. At the midpoint of the season, that changed to Barnhill and freshman Elizabeth Hightower. Barnhill has appeared in the circle in 44 of the team’s 59 games, with 37 of them being starts.
And while the team depends on Barnhill in the circle, she has also been a valuable mentor for Hightower, who was moved into the rotation after Lugo struggled at the beginning of SEC play. The senior took the freshman under her wing, and Hightower has flourished. Though she has started just nine games, Hightower has a 4-1 record with a 1.49 ERA and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team at the end of the regular season.
Between Barnhill and Hightower, the Gators have the best ERA in the conference (1.89) and the lowest opposing batting average (.182).
“I try to do my best to be a positive role model for them and kind of bring them along with me,” Barnhill said. “I think that’s what you have to do as a senior.”
Lorenz, meanwhile, has been one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal Florida offense this season. She leads the team in batting average (.421), slugging percentage (.738) and on-base percentage (.556). Lorenz and catcher/designated player Kendyl Lindaman have been the only two players the Gators can consistently depend on for offensive production.
All of this while learning a new position.
Lorenz played in the outfield in her first three seasons at Florida, but the graduation of Kayli Kvistad left a void at first base. Lorenz’s sure glove (she had committed just one error in three seasons) and natural ability, along with Florida’s depth at the outfield position, made her the perfect candidate to fill that vacancy.
The move worked out, and Lorenz’s play at first base was solid throughout the year. She made just one error all season and ended up as the only Gator on the SEC All-Defensive Team.
But unlike previous UF teams, this year’s squad hasn’t dominated the SEC. Far from it.
While it sports a solid 44-15 record and has quality wins over No. 2 Washington, No. 4 Florida State, No. 6 Arizona and No. 12 Minnesotaoutside of conference play, it went just 12-12 against SEC opponents, its worst record since Walton’s first year at Florida. The main reason behind Florida’s SEC struggles is its offense; it has scored the second-fewest runs among SEC teams and has the conference’s worst batting average.
For the first time, Barnhill, Lorenz and the Gators are underdogs.
***
Barnhill and Lorenz’s softball futures have already been decided. Barnhill was taken with the first overall pick in the 2019 National Pro Fastpitch College Draft by the Chicago Bandits, and Lorenz was selected by the USSSA Pride with the second overall pick. The pair were one and two, just like high school.
“I’m just proud of them because it’s easy for those type of players to not work and to stop working,” Walton said. “And they continue to work, and they continue to work, and they’ll continue to work when they’re out of this program.”
It was the first time that the first two picks of the draft were from the same school since 2015.
But for just a little bit longer, they’ll be Gators, and winning it all is still the goal. And while the pressures of having only one more crack at a national championship loom large, these two remain unfazed.
“This year is not done yet,” Lorenz said. “I’ve grown so much here and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“This season isn’t over yet, so we really don’t like to think about those kind of things,” Barnhill said. “No matter what happens in this postseason and for the rest of the year, I’m so proud to be a Florida Gator.”
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727. Contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org.
Softball stars Kelly Barnhill and Amanda Lorenz have accomplished almost everything at UF — except a national championship.
