GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As difficult as it was for them, through the sniffles and tears, to process the end of their University of Florida careers, a trio of Gators seniors who were thrown an extra-season bone by the NCAA last year clearly were thankful for the opportunity.
"This happens sometimes. It's a game," first baseman
Kendyl Lindaman said Saturday following UF's 6-0 shutout loss to Southeastern Conference rival Georgia that completed a two-game sweep of their NCAA Tournament Super Region at Pressly Stadium. "It's tough, but we always said we wanted to go out on our terms, and we were able to do that."
The ideal "terms" for the Gators, of course, would have them playing Sunday in a deciding Game 3 with a berth to the Women's College World Series on the line. The Bulldogs nixed that in dominant fashion, what with pitcher Mary Wilson Avant spinning two masterful shutouts and the UGA batters clubbing UF's deep pitching staff for a combined five home runs during the two victories (Georgia won 4-0 Friday night). The Gators, meanwhile, managed just seven hits for the weekend, went 0-for-16 with runners on base and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and failed even to get a runner to third base.
But, like Lindaman said, it's a game.
And someone has to lose the game.
Now contrast the ending of the 2021 season to that of 2020, when the NCAA (and the world) shut down all competition the second weekend in March and canceled the balance of the campaign. Those were terms few could, well, come to terms with.
But because the NCAA granted student-athletes whose spring seasons were affected by the shutdown an extra year of eligibility, Lindaman, as well as outfielder
Jaimie Hoover and pitcher
Katie Chronister a chance to come back and rightfully finish the UF careers they started.
Those careers ended on the field and alongside the teammates and friends whose relationships — long after the hurt from Saturday subsides — they will cherish, along with the memories made on and off the field, for the rest of their lives.
"It sucks. We just didn't string anything together like we normally would," Hoover said of the on-field offensive happenings before moving on to the bigger picture. "I love my teammates. It's going to be hard ending our careers like this, but I think we made an impact on a lot of the girls here."
Chronister's take?
"I'll think of family," she said. "I wouldn't want it to end with anyone else. This team … is everything to me."
The 2021 Gators, a team built around pitching and defense (and thus low-scoring games), just happened to run into a red-hot arm in the circle and a team with some big bats sprinkled throughout the lineup. Remarkably, Georgia went 7-17 in SEC playing during the regular season, good enough to tie for 11th, and actually lost its last seven games before NCAA play. The Bulldogs now have won five straight and ousted both 13-seeded Duke and fourth-seeded UF.
"They played excellent, all the way around," UF coach
Tim Walton said. "Offensively, defensively and in the circle."
Back in January, Walton saw signs during preseason practices of a potentially strong offensive lineup. A month into the season, though, he had a much better grasp on who the Gators were and a realization they'd be challenged when opponents could score three, definitely four runs. Nonetheless, Florida won 45 games and a share of the SEC championship, a crown that was captured with a clutch sweep of Texas A&M during the season's final weekend.
In time, those are the images Lindaman, Hoover, Chronister, as well as out-going classmate
Jordan Matthews, will associate with their swan-song UF seasons.
Walton, too.
"Four great human beings, teammates and workers," Walton said of the senior quartet, all of which will leave UF with degrees. "I'm happy for them and all of their contributions to our program."
