Tim Walton looks ahead to 2025 Florida softball season

Florida’s 2024 season ended just short of the best-of-three championship series at the Women’s College World Series on Tuesday, losing to Oklahoma in extra innings. And after the game, head coach Tim Walton shared his excitement for what’s to come for Florida next year.

Some of it is based on the recruits and other new players the Gators might add, he said. But he also shared pride in the senior class that’s leaving a major mark to help set up future teams for more success. That said, replacing them will be a big task, too.

“We’ve got some things to get better at,” Walton said. “We’ll have to replace someone like Skylar Wallace and Katie Kistler and Avery Goelz and Emily Wilkie and I say those, and Baylee Goddard, those were our leaders. Those were the persons that were helping, they’re very helpful. And by helpful, it doesn’t necessarily mean you tell someone what to do, you just teach them how to do it. And Baylee Goddard’s probably one of the best. So really proud of those seniors. And MacKenzie Wooten was a grad transfer and she fit right in.”

All that being said, Walton did add he’s excited about the group that Florida will feature in 2025 with some new, young talent.

And he’s hoping the additions coming in can fully accentuate the current roster in ways the 2024 team might’ve been just ever so slightly lacking.

“I think the biggest thing for us is we’re — we got better, athletically. Next year we’re pretty athletic,” Walton said. “We’ve got some kids coming in that are pretty fast and can do some things. Obviously we’ve got to, and I said it — really said it from the beginning of the season — we have a really good team. We tried to add a player last summer to really compliment the young pitchers. We didn’t really do that.”

And more than anything, after this team saw its season end just a few games short of a national championship, Walton wanted to heap praise on the group for the way they fought and competed.

“But I think just the fact we competed all the way through the SEC, SEC Tournament, regional, super regional, and even here, this is the most innings we’ve played not playing for a national championship not playing for the College World Series. I’m proud of that,” Walton said. “I hate losing, it’s the worst, but I’m proud of my team for the fight and the competitiveness that they showed. I don’t think we’ve ever, in our program’s history, won the first game, lost the second game, and found a way to keep winning. It’s really hard to do, emotionally, and we probably are a little bit out of gas, to be honest with you. It’s just a lot. We’re here for 8 or 9 days, five rain delays or whatever it was. It’s just a lot. But I’m proud, none of my players ever made an excuse or blamed anything, they just went out there and tried to have fun.”