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Florida Softball coach Tim Walton wins 1,000. Game about Samford

Florida Softball coach Tim Walton wins 1,000. Game about Samford

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It wasn't just a Friday evening in the Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium when the Gators rolled over Samford. It was an opportunity to honor the face of the program.

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In 2006, Tim Walton took over a softball program in Florida that had never been promoted to women -College -World Series.

Almost 20 years later, Walton led the Gator to two national titles, eight titles of the Southeasters Conference (Sec) and 12 WCWS appearances.

On Friday evening he reached another career milestone: 1,000 wins as a Gator head coach.

Walton reached the feat with a 9-1 win against Samford. The victory, UFS 13th by Run-Rule, brought the program to 20-1.

“There is a lot of thousand; it has been more than 50 a year for 20 years,” said Walton. “It only says how consistently our program was, but above all how many great players we had.”

Where does Tim Walton rank in the victories of all time?

The victory brought Walton's record in Florida to 1,000-239 with a profit share of 0.807. His overall record is 1,123-303 (.788). From 2003 to 2005 he trained in the state of Wichita before Florida.

Walton is now 8. ever among active softball coaches. He is 34 with all trainers.

Among the second coaches he is 4 behind Oklahomas Patty Gasso, Karen Weekly from Tennessee and Alabamas Patrick Murphy.

A legacy with pencil, not a pen

Walton pointed out that he is far from finished. The 52-year-old admitted how cool it was to see former players shown in an assembly after the game.

“These players came here because of Jordan Matthews' Walk-Off-Hit, they came here because Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill and some of the special players before them,” said Walton.

He said that in relation to current players like Kendra Falby and Reagan Walsh, Florida voted due to these former players. The legacy of Falby and Walsh is still written. Walton said the players in five years will commit themselves to UF due to these players.

“This is the part I am proud of,” said Walton. “The legacy of this team is still written and they have a long way to go.”

Fortunately for Walton and Gator fans, he has a team this season that could contribute to his legacy. The No. 3 Gators have a good chance of starting with just one loss. The newcomer Taylor Shumaker went 3: 4 on Friday and leads the nation in homes, RBIs and runs.

Keagan Rothrock injury -update

A key in Florida that makes it back to OKC is the health of the second Ass Keagan Rothrock. She has not recorded Grand Canyon since the victory last Saturday. Walton provided an update about her health on Friday and said she was on the IL and “everyday life”.

“It doesn't seem to be serious, but we will take the necessary precautionary measures to bring them back to 100%,” said Walton. “In our program we listed it as daily and it will soon return to practice and game activity.”

The Gators close the Florida Invitational Saturday against Troy at 11 a.m. and West Michigan at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday against FamU at 2 p.m.

Noah Ram covers the Gainesville-High School Sports and the University of Florida Athletics for the Gainesville Sun, Gatersports.com and the USA Today Network. Contact him by e -mail at nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 On X/Twitter.

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