Gainesville WeatherSportscene with Steve Russell
History Made As Gator Baseball, Softball Makes CWS In Same Year
As this is written, I am leaving to go to Omaha, Nebraska to cover the Gator baseballl team as it plays in the College World Series.
What a year and what a job Kevin O’Sullivan has done with this program, and he now joins Gator softball coach Tim Walton in having their programs reach the College World Series for the first time in school history in the same season.
Both coaches and their staffs have done outstanding jobs with their programs and the future of both programs looks very bright. Could there be more trips to the CWS?
All signs point that way. In softball, the Gators lose two very good senior players in outfielder Francesca Enea and infielder Corrie Brooks but Walton has the rest of his team back. Freshman Brittany Schutte is a budding superstar after a terrific freshman year of .346, 19 homers and 59 rbi. An excellent recruiting class led by the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year in pitcher/hitter Kasey Fagan of Dunnellon that will come to Gainesville this fall as well that will add pitching depth and position depth as well.
The baseball situation is a little more up in the air with the Major League Baseball Draft and all the time kids have to sign (right up until the first day of fall classes) but if all goes right, the Gators will have every starting position player back except senior outfielder Matt den Dekker and the vast majority of their pitching should come back as well. Those talented freshmen like shortstop Nolan Fontana, catcher Mike Zunino, infielder Austin Maddox and pitchers Brian Johnson and Hudson Randall will also return.
And on the recruiting trail, that group was recognized as the top recruiting class of this past season and O’Sullivan has another great group lined up to come in if the draft doesn’t steal them. Pitcher Karsten Whitson, the son of former big leaguer Ed Whitson, was a first round draft and will likely go pro but pitchers Robert Aviles (7th round) and John Barbato (6th round) have a chance to stick and other pitchers are poised to come to UF as well. Position players like Jacob Tillotson from Columbia High School in Lake City and infielder Tyler Palmer from Davie will add depth.
There has been a lot of history made this year in Gator athletics with its slew of top ten national finishes and softball and baseball have been a big part of that success.
Don’t look for that success to end anytime soon.
Posted: Thursday, Jun 17, 2010, 09:12 AM
