UF had just been unceremoniously (and quickly) ousted from the Women's College World Series – Shumaker's first trip to Oklahoma City as a player – with two basically non-competitive defeats. Walton was back home a few days later when a screenshot appeared on his cell phone, courtesy of Shumaker's former club team coach in California. The image was of Shumaker in a batting cage.
"It's early in the morning, she hasn't been off a week and she's already training," Walton said during the team's postgame media session after improving to 51-10 on the season and reaching advancing to Super Regional play for the 17th time in his 21 seasons. "It's how she was trained at six [years old], seven, eight nine, 10, 11. Some of these [players] were professionals long before they became Gators."
Not "professionals" in the literal sense – or even the NIL sense – but in their approach to the game they love.
Like her team, Shumaker, the centerfielder from Fullerton, California, had a pretty good weekend. She led off Sunday with a double in the first inning and scored the game's first run, then blasted a two-run homer (her 20th of the season, 40thof her career) in the second inning. On Friday, in the regional opener against Florida A&M, Shumaker went 3-for-4, with a homer and five RBI.
In between those performances, Shumaker joined a handful of teammates – "More than half" the squad, Walton said – in attending one of the two sold-out Morgan Wallin concerts at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, a happening that took over the campus and, frankly, could have made the softball tournament at Pressly Stadium something of a community afterthought.
They collectively zeroed in on the softball business at hand while taking advantage of entertain to be had, all while navigating any potential distractions.
Translation: As professionals would. Taylor Shumaker
"At the end of the day, we are people before we're players. As long as we make sure winning is the No. 1 priority, go out and have fun. Morgan Wallin is not going to be in town playing 'The Swamp' every weekend," Shumaker said Sunday. "A lot of us went in small groups with each other, so we could keep an eye on each other and make sure we're making good decisions. I feel like everybody was professional."
That word again.
Walton had no doubt that would be their approach. In fact, he wondered if the dangling concert carrot Friday and Saturday didn't provide an element of motivation for his team making quick, mercy-rule, five-inning work of FAMU on Friday and Tech again on Saturday.
"As a parent, you think about trying to train your kids to do the right things. Same for a coach," Walton said. "I thought they had themselves accountable. I don't know that, but they showed up [for the games]. You hear them talk, I didn't prep them [to say] that. It really makes you proud. Part of that, too, and the reason why a lot of them are here, you try to create a professional environment that cares for them and helps them when they need help and steers them in the right direction."
He smiled.
"It's awesome for her to say it that way," Walton added of Shumaker's remarks. "And she's right. Have fun. Morgan Wallin is not going to be here every weekend. It just happened to fall on our regional."
Which means it fell on the most important weekend of the season to date, especially for seniors like Jocelyn Erickson, Kenleigh Cahalan, Kendall Grover and Giulia Desiderio, who were playing for their college softball lives. They too responded like pros.
"I told them after the game, you can't take this stuff for granted," Walton said. "Regional champion, moving on to Super Regional, it's not easy. … It's hard to do that when you've been here so long. Everybody just expects this is what it's going to be like. I expect it, too, it just isn't always as easy as it looks."
The culture Walton has instilled, and the players who've bought into it over the last two decades, just make it look that way.
UF had just been unceremoniously (and quickly) ousted from the Women's College World Series – Shumaker's first trip to Oklahoma City as a player – with two basically non-competitive defeats. Walton was back home a few days later when a screenshot appeared on his cell phone, courtesy of Shumaker's former club team coach in California. The image was of Shumaker in a batting cage. 
