Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

It’s and ear piece. The catcher for texas wears it. You could see the box on the back of her chest protector. Ear piece or watch. It’s whatever you prefer

 

In the nfl the head set shuts off when the play clock hits 10 seconds. Not sure if ncaa will be the same or not

 

Skylar Wallace should be on the team. Interesting how OU's Kinzie Hanson got put on the team as INF which she does not play while Jocelyn Erickson got the C. Skylar should have gotten the INF slot, not Kinzie.

 

Agree 100%! Skyler was slighted. K. Hanson an INF LOL! And I will also add Kendra,IPHR, and the catch of the series.

 

Skylar hit 200 (3-15), 3 K, 2 BB, 3 RBI....that's not typically getting you on the tourney team

 

Some catchers wear an earpiece and a watch, or an earpiece and a transmitter. You can wear all three devices if you want. Jocey definitely wears a watch. They also have a headset they can wear inside the lip of their hat for fielders/pitchers. It’s what almost all of our boys used this year on the bump. Some catchers wear a transmitter, so they can send the signals themselves. Some pitchers wear the transmitter so they can call the pitches themselves. There’s several different brands approved, and many different styles of transmitters and receivers. I saw a lot of fielders for other teams wearing a receiver that’s on their belt. They’re obviously using a different brand than we are. Many different styles, you’re allowed so many transmitter’s and so many receivers at a time, you can split them up however it makes sense for your team.

 

Another Francesca quote:

 

Notice the Francesca influence in Katie’s swing:

 

Jocelyn Erikson is the NFCA Div 1 Player of the Year:

Erickson Named NFCA Division I Player of the Year - Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Friday morning Jocelyn Erickson of the Florida softball team was officially announced as the TUCCI/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I Player of the Year. This is the second consecutive season a Gators has won the prestigious award as Skylar Wallace was the first to claim the honor in 2023.

Erickson turned in one of the best individual performances as a catcher at UF in program history. The talented left hander set the program's new single-season record for RBI with 86 on the year, which surpassed previous record holder Megan Bush's mark of 80 in 2011. The duo now stands as the only two Gators to have recorded 80 or more RBI in a year. Offensively, she also finished third in program history with seven SAC flies only behind Bush's nine in 2011 and Charla Echols 10 in 2022.

The Phoenix, Ariz., native's defensive prowess behind the plate also helped her set the new UF single-season record for lowest stolen base percentage against with a mark of .316 as she threw out 13 of the 19 runners attempting to steal this season.

Erickson finished the year with a .382 (73-for-191) average at the plate with 15 doubles, 15 home runs, 50 runs scored and 50 walks in addition to being 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts.

The sophomore's stats turned into numerous accolades this season as she became just the eighth SEC Player of the Year in program history, the first Diamond Sports/NFCA Catcher of the year at UF and joined Kendra Falby as the second and third players to ever be named Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners.

With Erickson earning this year's NFCA Division I Player of the Year award, the Gators are now the only program to have won the award in back-to-back years.

 

Like I said , I think Napier said 18 seconds..but I will check with a friend that attended with me and see what they remember

 

Started slow offensively, the whole team did in winning 1-0 and losing 10-0, but Skylar really shined when it counted hitting 2 homeruns in the 9-3 UF romp over the Sooners.

No doubt Jocelyn Erikson was the best C in the WCWS. I just don't like a player of Skylar's caliber being left off for a non-INF who had her place taken by a better player at her position.

If you checked everyone's stats, you'd likely find much lesser success at the WCWS than what was achieved during the season. Great pitching beats great hitting.

ESPN was consistently running the batters' averages in the series. By far and away, most were anemic to average. Yet, here we are with an all-WCWS team that includes a non-INF selected for the INF and leaves Skylar Wallace off the team.

EDIT: Credit to CTW for moving Skylar up to leadoff and Kendra down the lineup, first to 8 and then to 9. The offense did get jump started scoring 6, 9, and 5 runs in UF's last 3 games, that's an increase from 0.50 runs per game in the first two games to 6.67 runs per game over the last 3 games, but Skylar received reduced opportunities for RBIs in the leadoff position. Her value to the UF team at the WCWS was that she, and also Kendra, did what was best for the Gators to get their best shot at winning. It worked against bama and OU1. Skylar didn't get a hit in OU2, but she did get on via a base on balls.

 

Well deserved, a big difference maker! Love this TEAM!

 

From the Infielder selections, Scott hit 360, Hansen hit 350, Stewart hit 333, Jennings hit 350....so yes there were some anemic averages in the WCWS, but the all tourney selections were clearly not anemic. I'm guessing there were probably another couple of infielders who had a decent performance but their team didn't go deep enough to get the volume of AB/stats to get selected. Bama catcher hit 500 (4-8), Stanford 1b hit 333 (4-12). UF wasn't slighted on the list...Walsh hit 357, and Erickson 364 (also had an amazing 6 BB) and earned it. Skylar is a great great player, but hitting 200 wasn't all tourney level this year, same for another great player in Maya Brady who also hit 200

 

Shouldn't all tournament teams be comprised of atleast a player representing each position?

 

1. hanson is a catcher beaten out for the position by erikson. you continue to ignore she is not inf. 2. you also brushed over my edit about skyler moving to leadoff for uf's last 3 games along with the dramatic increase in run production. the case can be made that wallace enabled erikson and walsh to be on the team.

 

Skylar moving to leadoff doesn't impact making the all tourney team....her overall performance does. Over the course of the tourney she hit 200, and only had 2 walks. She stole 1 base, got caught stealing once, committed one error. That's simply not going to get a player on the all tourney team. This isn't a popularity contest, it's simply a snapshot of what happened in OKC. Everyone on the list had significantly better numbers, it's not even close.
I didn't brush over your edit, I don't see any relevance. I'm not sure how Skylar moving from the 2 hole to leadoff helped Erickson and Walsh make the tourney team.....how exactly did you work that math lol?
Clearly the all tourney team was comprised of what they considered the top performers generally regardless of position. And that's something I would prefer....reward the best players rather than force a position player into the mix that isn't worthy. Why jam an OF on there that hit 200 and ignore all those players hitting 350? Walsh should have been on there and she was...she put up the numbers, but it's fortunate they placed 2 DP on the list because Parker hit 380 and would have been there ahead of Regan. Are you upset about that? Hansen also deserved the recognition so I don't care they called her an infielder.
Again, the Bama catcher had 10 plate appearances and reached base 6 times. She hit 500, had a homer and 3 RBI in 3 games. She clearly didn't make it because her team didn't go deep enough but she had superior numbers. There are arguments to be made for some players, unfortunately this particular window Skylar isn't one of them....and she would probably be the first person to say that.

 

They should have just listed 2 catchers. They had 2 DP, 3 P, 1 OF.....they clearly were rewarding the best performers, not sure why they listed it like that

 

Not to be a debbie downer BUT CTW did not move Kendra to #7 in the lineup. Kendra went to CTW and asked to be moved down as she was not hitting. This goes to show you what a great leader and team player Kendra is. She took one for the team and it almost worked out!

 

I thought he moved her to 7 and she asked to be moved on down to 9 the next day. I thought when he moved her to 7, she should have gone to nine anyway. We know she's capable of getting on base. Putting her in the nine hole pretty much takes one at bat away from her, but moves her right back in front of the top of the order to roll the lineup over IF she gets going again.