By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:
A HERO IS BORN! CARSTEN FINNVOLD TO THE RESCUE
One game after the Florida Gators (43-22) got a 6-5 win over Central Michigan by escaping a bases loaded situation in the ninth inning, Carsten Finnvold came in from the bullpen after 10 warmup pitches with the bases full of Oklahoma Sooners and nobody out. What Finnvold did over the next nine innings not only is the stuff heroes are made of but it saved Florida’s baseball season from extinction and set up Monday afternoon’s (1 p.m.) showdown, winner takes the NCAA Gainesville regional title game.
Finnvold pitched as many innings Sunday night as he had pitched all season. Oklahoma, which left the yard four times Saturday night when the Sooners bushwhacked the Gators, 9-4, couldn’t touch him for five innings. The Sooners scored twice in the sixth to tie the game at 2-2, but once the crisis was averted the Florida offense came to life and the Sooners bats went dead the rest of the way. Finnvold (2-1) got the win, allowing just five hits and striking out four without yielding a walk. He threw 116 pitches, 38 more than he did in his previous long outing against Tennessee last week in the SEC Tournament.
“Any adjective I use to describe his outing is not going to do it justice” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He had to come in in the first, bases loaded, nobody out. Had to rush him down to the pen and he gets out of it. I was just hoping to limit the damage, and the next thing you know, he goes nine.”
In the sixth when the Sooners touched him for their only two runs of the game, Finnvold admitted he was elevating his pitches just a little bit which had everything to do with four hits and two runs he gave up. It was the defense that came to Finnvold’s rescue in the sixth with Ty Evans snagging a line drive in right field for the second out and catcher Mac Guscette making the defensive play of the game for out three.
The Sooners had runners on first (Jimmy Crooks) and second (Tanner Tredaway) when OU coach Skip Johnson tried to pull off a double steal. Tredaway got a good jump at second, but instead of throwing to third, Guscette fired a strike to Sterlin Thompson at second who applied the tag to Crooks for the third out on a bang-bang play.
“It was a really heads up, instinctual play,” O’Sullivan said. “We do talk about that … It’s easier said than done. It’s easier to tell Mac, ‘Hey, check the trail runner,’ but he was instinctive what he saw, the runner got a good jump at third and he threw out [Crooks]. It was the big play of the ball game, honestly.”
Getting out of the jam was an emotional lift for the Gators, who took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a Thompson double and a single to right by BT Riopelle. In the eighth, the Gators scored four more times to put the game on ice. Jud Fabian led off the inning with his second homer (24th of the season) of the night, a line drive to left field on a 3-1 count. Later in the inning, Josh Rivera scored on a passed ball, Thompson drove in Colby Halter on a sacrifice fly to right, and Wyatt Langford scored when Peyton Graham threw the ball away on a Riopelle ground ball.
Florida’s other two runs came on a fourth inning solo homer by Fabian and a fifth inning single to left center by Jac Caglianone that scored Thompson, who had singled and stolen second.
Just getting to the night game with Oklahoma was an adventure because earlier in the day the Gators went white knuckles to take their elimination game with Central Michigan. After blowing a 5-0 lead, the Gators broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the ninth when Wyatt Langford and Sterlin Thompson reached on walks, advanced a base on a Riopelle sacrifice bunt and Ty Evans delivered a sacrifice fly to right field for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Gators got off to a shaky start to the Central Michigan bottom of the ninth when Ryan Slater gave up a leadoff single. He got the next two batters on a liner to Halter at third and a swinging third strike on a ball in the dirt, but a walk and a single loaded up the bases. Slater got the Gators out of the jam by getting Aidan Shepardson to foul out to Halter at third.
Halter made the two defensive plays of the game in the seventh when he made a leaping stab of a high bouncer off the bat of Danny Wuestenfeld while moving to his left to start a double play. Shepardson followed with a sharp grounder to the third-short hole that had single written all over it but Halter made a diving stop and threw Shepardson out from his knees for the final out of the inning.
Florida’s first five runs came on a Guscette RBI ground out in the second, a Langford homer and a throwing error that scored Thompson in the third, another Langford homer (25th of the season) in the fourth and a double steal that resulted in Rivera taking home without a throw in the fifth.
Who the Gators throw against Oklahoma today is anybody’s guess. Fisher Jameson, who threw four 1-hit shutout innings against Texas A&M in Hoover is a possibility although he did give up two hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning against the Sooners Saturday night. A couple other possibilities are Nick Ficarrotta and Blake Purnell. More than likely, it’s an all hands on deck type of game that O’Sullivan could use six or seven pitchers.
UF SOFTBALL: JUST GETTING TO OKC WAS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT
This was not a vintage Florida softball team that won one game and lost two at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Considering Tim Walton had neither a power throwing ace in the circle nor much in the way of power in his lineup, the fact the Gators (49-19) got as far as they did is a credit to speed and exceptional defense.
The Gators went 13-11 in SEC play, a bad year by Walton standards. They were a No. 14 national seed, the first time since 2007 the Gators weren’t a top eight national seed. That meant winning a super regional on the road, a rather remarkable accomplishment in itself.
So relish what the Gators were able to do this season. Not only was this one of the youngest teams Walton has ever put on the field, it had the least power and truly average pitching. It was a good year, not great by Florida standards but don’t forget the Gators were the only Southeastern Conference team to get to Oklahoma City in spite of all the obvious flaws.
Help is on the way: The Gators lose Hannah Adams, Cheyenne Lindsey and Natalie Lugo for sure. Charla Echols is thought to be coming back to take advantage of her COVID year. Elizabeth Hightower also has a COVID year at her disposal. Returning are starters Kendra Falby, Skylar Wallace, Katie Kistler, Avery Goelz, Sam Roe and Reagan Walsh. Pitcher Lexie Delbrey has tremendous potential if she ever learns to throw strikes consistently.
There are three or four players on the roster who haven’t played much during their time at UF who could also transfer out so Walton could be looking into the transfer portal, particularly to find some pitching help. A couple of pitchers in the portal who may draw some interest are Lexi Kilfoyl, 28-11 for her career at Alabama, and Alex Storaka, the Big Ten pitcher of the year at Michigan, who struck out 300 batters.
Walton already has Sam Roe, the former No. 1 recruit in the nation who enrolled early to play at UF, on the roster. Middle infielder Kaila Pollard (Norco, CA), the nation’s No. 4 recruit, and pitcher/first baseman Olivia Gigante (San Diego, CA Patrick Henry), a big time power hitter who throws in the high 60s, will be enrolling this summer.
Walton’s 2023 recruiting class is being hailed by experts as one of the best in collegiate softball history, led by the numbers one, two and three recruits in the country – pitcher Keagan Rothrock (Indianapolis, IN Roncalli), shortstop Mia Williams (Windemere, FL) and pitcher Ava Brown (Montgomery, TX Lake Creek). Over the weekend, Rothrock pitched Roncalli to a pair of state semifinal wins while contributing in a big way at the plate. Roncalli is 34-0 this season. Rothrock is 27-0 with an 0.73 ERA and 366 strikeouts in 160-1/3 innings. She is also hitting .529 with 14 homers and 54 RBI this year. Roncalli will play next weekend for the Indiana state championship. Brown pitched and hit the Lake Creek Lions (41-0) to a state championship. She finished the year 30-0 with an 0.43 ERA and 335 strikeouts in 183-1/3 innings, plus she hit 10 home runs. In the state championship win over Georgetown, she was perfect through five innings, finishing with a 1-hitter and nine strikeouts plus had the game’s only extra base hit.
The others in the recruiting class are Alyssa Hovermale (Norco, CA), Ariel Kowaleski (Fort Bend, TX Travis) and Cassidy McClellan (Bradenton, FL Lakewood Ranch). Hovermale is a power hitting corner infielder who was a high school/travel ball teammate of Pollard. Kowalewski is a catcher who also plays corner infield positions who is a big time power hitter. McClellan, whose high school coach is TJ Goelz, father of UF first baseman Avery Goelz, hit .561 while leading Lakewood Ranch to the state championship.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL
Alabama: Alabama got a commitment over the weekend from 4-star forward Sam Walters (6-10, 180, The Villages, FL The Villages Charter), who the Gators were seriously recruiting.
Arkansas: Defensive lineman Dorian Gerald has removed his name from the transfer portal and will return to Arkansas.
Auburn: Former LSU wide receiver Koy Moore is transferring to Auburn. He had 27 catches for 248 yards in two seasons at LSU.
South Carolina: Wide receiver Rico Powers, a former 4-star recruit who caught four passes in two years at South Carolina, is transferring to Jackson State.
Texas A&M: Speaking to the writers at the 12th Man website, Jimbo Fisher said “There is no group of people that deserve a [national] championship and an SEC championship” more than Aggie fans. The Aggies have never won an SEC championship and their only national championship was in 1939.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The SEC meetings concluded back on Friday without commissioner Greg Sankey announcing a scheduling plan for when Texas and Oklahoma join the league. I’m not so sure that isn’t by design. I’m of the opinion that Sankey has already impressed on the holdouts who wish to stick with eight conference games that at this point in time and with ESPN preferring a nine-game model that the 3-6 model is the way the SEC will go. Nine games is what Sankey wants and all things considered, what Greg Sankey wants, he’s going to get.
So why the delay? Well, that’s almost a no-brainer. The SEC milked the Jimbo-Nick feud for all it was worth. The nation’s big media people descended on Destin and talked to everybody they could, hoping for some prevocational remark. Jimbo said he’s moved on. Nick said he has no ill feelings toward Jimbo or the Aggies. Lane Kiffin even suggested that all the coaches acted like adults at their meeting.
So there were no fireworks but the SEC was front and center of every major news outlet nationwide for an entire week. Now these same people are going to be talking and writing that the SEC is indecisive about scheduling.
If you believe that, then you’re the sucker P.T. Barnum said was born every minute. There is no indecision at all. Greg Sankey is smarter than everybody else and he’s milking scheduling to keep the SEC at the forefront of every news cycle. He may not announce the nine gamer until SEC Media Days, more than a month from now, but take it to the bank: the SEC will play nine games when Texas and Oklahoma join the league and all the media people who were holding their collective breaths will once again discover that Greg Sankey not only is the smartest guy in the room, but someone who knows how to make every media opportunity count.
A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:
A HERO IS BORN! CARSTEN FINNVOLD TO THE RESCUE
One game after the Florida Gators (43-22) got a 6-5 win over Central Michigan by escaping a bases loaded situation in the ninth inning, Carsten Finnvold came in from the bullpen after 10 warmup pitches with the bases full of Oklahoma Sooners and nobody out. What Finnvold did over the next nine innings not only is the stuff heroes are made of but it saved Florida’s baseball season from extinction and set up Monday afternoon’s (1 p.m.) showdown, winner takes the NCAA Gainesville regional title game.
Finnvold pitched as many innings Sunday night as he had pitched all season. Oklahoma, which left the yard four times Saturday night when the Sooners bushwhacked the Gators, 9-4, couldn’t touch him for five innings. The Sooners scored twice in the sixth to tie the game at 2-2, but once the crisis was averted the Florida offense came to life and the Sooners bats went dead the rest of the way. Finnvold (2-1) got the win, allowing just five hits and striking out four without yielding a walk. He threw 116 pitches, 38 more than he did in his previous long outing against Tennessee last week in the SEC Tournament.
“Any adjective I use to describe his outing is not going to do it justice” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He had to come in in the first, bases loaded, nobody out. Had to rush him down to the pen and he gets out of it. I was just hoping to limit the damage, and the next thing you know, he goes nine.”
In the sixth when the Sooners touched him for their only two runs of the game, Finnvold admitted he was elevating his pitches just a little bit which had everything to do with four hits and two runs he gave up. It was the defense that came to Finnvold’s rescue in the sixth with Ty Evans snagging a line drive in right field for the second out and catcher Mac Guscette making the defensive play of the game for out three.
The Sooners had runners on first (Jimmy Crooks) and second (Tanner Tredaway) when OU coach Skip Johnson tried to pull off a double steal. Tredaway got a good jump at second, but instead of throwing to third, Guscette fired a strike to Sterlin Thompson at second who applied the tag to Crooks for the third out on a bang-bang play.
“It was a really heads up, instinctual play,” O’Sullivan said. “We do talk about that … It’s easier said than done. It’s easier to tell Mac, ‘Hey, check the trail runner,’ but he was instinctive what he saw, the runner got a good jump at third and he threw out [Crooks]. It was the big play of the ball game, honestly.”
Getting out of the jam was an emotional lift for the Gators, who took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a Thompson double and a single to right by BT Riopelle. In the eighth, the Gators scored four more times to put the game on ice. Jud Fabian led off the inning with his second homer (24th of the season) of the night, a line drive to left field on a 3-1 count. Later in the inning, Josh Rivera scored on a passed ball, Thompson drove in Colby Halter on a sacrifice fly to right, and Wyatt Langford scored when Peyton Graham threw the ball away on a Riopelle ground ball.
Florida’s other two runs came on a fourth inning solo homer by Fabian and a fifth inning single to left center by Jac Caglianone that scored Thompson, who had singled and stolen second.
Just getting to the night game with Oklahoma was an adventure because earlier in the day the Gators went white knuckles to take their elimination game with Central Michigan. After blowing a 5-0 lead, the Gators broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the ninth when Wyatt Langford and Sterlin Thompson reached on walks, advanced a base on a Riopelle sacrifice bunt and Ty Evans delivered a sacrifice fly to right field for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Gators got off to a shaky start to the Central Michigan bottom of the ninth when Ryan Slater gave up a leadoff single. He got the next two batters on a liner to Halter at third and a swinging third strike on a ball in the dirt, but a walk and a single loaded up the bases. Slater got the Gators out of the jam by getting Aidan Shepardson to foul out to Halter at third.
Halter made the two defensive plays of the game in the seventh when he made a leaping stab of a high bouncer off the bat of Danny Wuestenfeld while moving to his left to start a double play. Shepardson followed with a sharp grounder to the third-short hole that had single written all over it but Halter made a diving stop and threw Shepardson out from his knees for the final out of the inning.
Florida’s first five runs came on a Guscette RBI ground out in the second, a Langford homer and a throwing error that scored Thompson in the third, another Langford homer (25th of the season) in the fourth and a double steal that resulted in Rivera taking home without a throw in the fifth.
Who the Gators throw against Oklahoma today is anybody’s guess. Fisher Jameson, who threw four 1-hit shutout innings against Texas A&M in Hoover is a possibility although he did give up two hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning against the Sooners Saturday night. A couple other possibilities are Nick Ficarrotta and Blake Purnell. More than likely, it’s an all hands on deck type of game that O’Sullivan could use six or seven pitchers.
UF SOFTBALL: JUST GETTING TO OKC WAS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT
This was not a vintage Florida softball team that won one game and lost two at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Considering Tim Walton had neither a power throwing ace in the circle nor much in the way of power in his lineup, the fact the Gators (49-19) got as far as they did is a credit to speed and exceptional defense.
The Gators went 13-11 in SEC play, a bad year by Walton standards. They were a No. 14 national seed, the first time since 2007 the Gators weren’t a top eight national seed. That meant winning a super regional on the road, a rather remarkable accomplishment in itself.
So relish what the Gators were able to do this season. Not only was this one of the youngest teams Walton has ever put on the field, it had the least power and truly average pitching. It was a good year, not great by Florida standards but don’t forget the Gators were the only Southeastern Conference team to get to Oklahoma City in spite of all the obvious flaws.
Help is on the way: The Gators lose Hannah Adams, Cheyenne Lindsey and Natalie Lugo for sure. Charla Echols is thought to be coming back to take advantage of her COVID year. Elizabeth Hightower also has a COVID year at her disposal. Returning are starters Kendra Falby, Skylar Wallace, Katie Kistler, Avery Goelz, Sam Roe and Reagan Walsh. Pitcher Lexie Delbrey has tremendous potential if she ever learns to throw strikes consistently.
There are three or four players on the roster who haven’t played much during their time at UF who could also transfer out so Walton could be looking into the transfer portal, particularly to find some pitching help. A couple of pitchers in the portal who may draw some interest are Lexi Kilfoyl, 28-11 for her career at Alabama, and Alex Storaka, the Big Ten pitcher of the year at Michigan, who struck out 300 batters.
Walton already has Sam Roe, the former No. 1 recruit in the nation who enrolled early to play at UF, on the roster. Middle infielder Kaila Pollard (Norco, CA), the nation’s No. 4 recruit, and pitcher/first baseman Olivia Gigante (San Diego, CA Patrick Henry), a big time power hitter who throws in the high 60s, will be enrolling this summer.
Walton’s 2023 recruiting class is being hailed by experts as one of the best in collegiate softball history, led by the numbers one, two and three recruits in the country – pitcher Keagan Rothrock (Indianapolis, IN Roncalli), shortstop Mia Williams (Windemere, FL) and pitcher Ava Brown (Montgomery, TX Lake Creek). Over the weekend, Rothrock pitched Roncalli to a pair of state semifinal wins while contributing in a big way at the plate. Roncalli is 34-0 this season. Rothrock is 27-0 with an 0.73 ERA and 366 strikeouts in 160-1/3 innings. She is also hitting .529 with 14 homers and 54 RBI this year. Roncalli will play next weekend for the Indiana state championship. Brown pitched and hit the Lake Creek Lions (41-0) to a state championship. She finished the year 30-0 with an 0.43 ERA and 335 strikeouts in 183-1/3 innings, plus she hit 10 home runs. In the state championship win over Georgetown, she was perfect through five innings, finishing with a 1-hitter and nine strikeouts plus had the game’s only extra base hit.
The others in the recruiting class are Alyssa Hovermale (Norco, CA), Ariel Kowaleski (Fort Bend, TX Travis) and Cassidy McClellan (Bradenton, FL Lakewood Ranch). Hovermale is a power hitting corner infielder who was a high school/travel ball teammate of Pollard. Kowalewski is a catcher who also plays corner infield positions who is a big time power hitter. McClellan, whose high school coach is TJ Goelz, father of UF first baseman Avery Goelz, hit .561 while leading Lakewood Ranch to the state championship.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL
Alabama: Alabama got a commitment over the weekend from 4-star forward Sam Walters (6-10, 180, The Villages, FL The Villages Charter), who the Gators were seriously recruiting.
Arkansas: Defensive lineman Dorian Gerald has removed his name from the transfer portal and will return to Arkansas.
Auburn: Former LSU wide receiver Koy Moore is transferring to Auburn. He had 27 catches for 248 yards in two seasons at LSU.
South Carolina: Wide receiver Rico Powers, a former 4-star recruit who caught four passes in two years at South Carolina, is transferring to Jackson State.
Texas A&M: Speaking to the writers at the 12th Man website, Jimbo Fisher said “There is no group of people that deserve a [national] championship and an SEC championship” more than Aggie fans. The Aggies have never won an SEC championship and their only national championship was in 1939.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The SEC meetings concluded back on Friday without commissioner Greg Sankey announcing a scheduling plan for when Texas and Oklahoma join the league. I’m not so sure that isn’t by design. I’m of the opinion that Sankey has already impressed on the holdouts who wish to stick with eight conference games that at this point in time and with ESPN preferring a nine-game model that the 3-6 model is the way the SEC will go. Nine games is what Sankey wants and all things considered, what Greg Sankey wants, he’s going to get.
So why the delay? Well, that’s almost a no-brainer. The SEC milked the Jimbo-Nick feud for all it was worth. The nation’s big media people descended on Destin and talked to everybody they could, hoping for some prevocational remark. Jimbo said he’s moved on. Nick said he has no ill feelings toward Jimbo or the Aggies. Lane Kiffin even suggested that all the coaches acted like adults at their meeting.
So there were no fireworks but the SEC was front and center of every major news outlet nationwide for an entire week. Now these same people are going to be talking and writing that the SEC is indecisive about scheduling.
If you believe that, then you’re the sucker P.T. Barnum said was born every minute. There is no indecision at all. Greg Sankey is smarter than everybody else and he’s milking scheduling to keep the SEC at the forefront of every news cycle. He may not announce the nine gamer until SEC Media Days, more than a month from now, but take it to the bank: the SEC will play nine games when Texas and Oklahoma join the league and all the media people who were holding their collective breaths will once again discover that Greg Sankey not only is the smartest guy in the room, but someone who knows how to make every media opportunity count.
