Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The situation was ideal. That's how she recalls it. She loved the school, loved the coaches and wasn't particularly crazy about the whole recruiting process. So Aleshia Ocasio, one of the top softball prospects in the state, committed to the college she thought best fit her in February of her junior year at Harmony High in St. Cloud, Fla.

Florida Gulf Coast University got a good one. 

"Looking back on it, it was probably a little impulsive," Ocasio said.

Because then came a wicked junior season. 

Ocasio was the lynchpin — best hitter, best pitcher — on a team that reached the Class 7A state semifinals before falling to powerhouse Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas in extra innings. The season was not just a game-changer, but a mind-changer for Ocasio, who got a taste of the big moment. And liked it.

"It had nothing to do with Florida Gulf Coast. I just wanted to aim higher," she said. "I wanted the big stage." 

It wasn't until the following fall, just two days before the early signing period, that Ocasio decommited from FGCU and opened up her recruiting. That's when she first heard from Florida coach Tim Walton, who invited her to campus later that week. Ocasio loved to hit and loved to pitch. She was going to do both at FGCU. The Gators, though, promised nothing; only that they'd coax the absolute best out of her regardless of where she played. As for the big stage Ocasio coveted? Well, the Gators had been to five of the previous six Women's College World Series, so that was a given.

But there was a catch. 

Where FGCU had offered up a full ride, UF's scholarship allotment had been virtually committed out, a development that would certainly impact her family financially. 

"But instead she talked about the academic challenge, the athletic challenge, playing in the College World Series. She talked about all these things she thought we could provide her," Walton said. "Then she looked me in the eye and said, 'This is what I want.' "

Within a week, she pledged UF. The following spring, Ocasio won 24 games her senior season at Harmony, striking out 250 batters in 152.2 innings, allowing hitters a measly .118 average and officially signed in April. Meanwhile, the Gators went on to win the program's first WCWS. 

A year later, Ocasio was in the circle at Oklahoma City starting for No. 1 UF in its NCAA championship series opener — and beating No. 2 Michigan. This year, she leads the nation in earned run average and Wednesday was named one of three finalsts for for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as the top-ranked Gators (56-5) head into Thursday night's Super Regional against 15th-ranked Georgia (43-18) at Pressly Stadium. The Bulldogs led the might Southeastern Conference in team batting average (.352), including two of the league's top three hitters in sisters Sydni Emanuel (.466) and Cortni Emanuel (.439), to go with the league's top slugger in Tina Iosefa, who hit 23 homers (best in the league) and knocked in 86 runs (tops in the nation).

So ... is this stage big enough?

"Yes," she said. "I love it."

Whether it is in Thursday's best-of-three opener or Friday's elimination games or next week in OKC, should the Gators be so fortunate to advance to a fourth straight WCWS, Ocasio will be in middle of the action. She won't be wallowing in it by in demonstrative ways. Instead, Ocasio's determination and cold-blooded stoicism will be at the head of the snake. 

"A lot of pitchers wear their emotions and from an offensive perspective, when you see a pitcher getting frustrated, we feed off that," UF senior catcher Aubree Munro said. "That's not [Aleshia]. She's a rock in the circle and no matter how the game is going we never feel like other teams are getting to her. So, as a defense, we never feel like the wheels are going to fall off." 

Instead, they just truck along. Sort of like the Florida feeder system of pitchers in which that Ocasio fell in line. When she arrived on the UF campus for the fall of 2014, Ocasio presented Walton and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha a solid base from which to work. Blessed with large hands, she already possessed terrific spin, velocity and a rise ball that helped her amass 41 wins, an 0.53 ERA and 428 strikeouts over her final two prep seasons. 

Actually, she had a lot of her stuff long before. 
 

The way her father, Anthony Ocasio, remembers it, he and Aleshia went to his son's Little League game (brother Austin is two years older and currently a linebacker at the University of New Mexico) in Orlando when dad and daughter just started tossing the ball around. She was seven. 

"She looked so natural throwing it," Anthony said. "One of the team's parents remarked how athletic she looked and thought we should get her playing. I'd played baseball and always thought my son would play, but that's when I put her in a league." 

Young "Lele" (her nickname as long as she can remember) excelled instantly. As the years went by, Ocasio just got better and better. When it was time for club ball, she was dominating both at the plate and in the circle. Regarding the former, her father turned her into a left-handed hitter to take advantage of her speed. 

"I was versatile," she said. 

How so? Ocasio's travel team coach, Sean Dunn, remembers her pitching six times in a day during one tournament. In another, she hit a home run her first time up, laid down a bunt single the second time, then cranked another homer her third trip to the plate. 

"She could go all day," Dunn said. "She'd throw one pitch at 60 [mph] then the next one at 40. The hitters would be cork-screwing themselves into the ground." 

That continued, of course, through her time at Harmony, which paved the way for the next challenge. When Ocasio got to Florida, the Gators had senior Lauren Haeger in place, as well as sophomore Delanie Gourley, both of whom had been called on — and delivered — to spell UF ace Hannah Rogers en route to the 2014 NCAA crown. Where would Ocasio fit it? 

As Florida's third freshman All-American, that's where. 

Ocasio went 18-3 as a SEC rookie, striking out 101, walking 45 and carding an ERA of 2.01, as she worked her way to No. 2 in the rotation. In UF's 2015 NCAA regional opener, Ocasio struck out a then school-record 17 against Florida A&M. From there, though, Walton and Rocha turned postseason pitching duties over to Haeger, who threw 29 straight scoreless innings to get the Gators back to OKC, then allowed just four runs in 23 innings over their first three games at the WCWS— wins over No. 10 Tennessee, No. 8 LSU and No. 4 Auburn — to advance Florida into the championship series against Michigan. 

Haeger, though, needed a rest. 

Ocasio had not thrown a pitch in 17 days, but got the start against a Wolverines squad sporting a 28-game winning streak. 

UF pitching coach Jennifer Rocha's concern? 

"Zero," she said. 

Her father's? 

"I instantly got nauseous," he said. 

His kid, though, was as cool as the Dippin' Dots at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. 

"I was always raised and coached to keep my composure, to have a poker face, but I had some nerves," she said. "Coach told me [about the start] the night before and I remember going to bed wondering, 'How am I going to get this girl out?' How am I going to get that girl out?' But this was what I'd come to Florida for. This was what I wanted. This was that big stage." 

Ocasio worked six innings, surrendered five hits and two runs before giving way to Gourley, who closed out a 3-2 win and gave Haeger the breather she needed. The Gators lost Game 2 of the series, but wrapped their second straight title with a 4-1 win in the decisive Game 3.
 

That was nearly 12 months ago. All she did as a sophomore was hack her ERA by a nearly a run and a half to 0.65, post a 22-1 record, with 144 strikeouts to just 23 walks. She's even called on to hit some these days. Like the 12th-inning homer to beat Florida State earlier this month. 

"I hope I get a chance to hit some more," she said. "I want to do it all. Whatever I can to help the team." 

As long the Gators keep playing, the stage will get bigger.

"Hey, this is what she wanted," Anthony Ocasio said, with a laugh, admittedly having long ago come to terms with the tuition hit from FGCU decision. "Good call, huh?" 

Big time.