Tim Walton has coached some great players in his career — Stacey Nelson, Kim Waleszonia, Francesca Enea, Stephanie Brombacher and so on.
But UF softball’s all-time winningest coach feels he has a future star in freshman shortstop Cheyenne Coyle.
The California native has started all 28 games, making everyone quickly forget about last year’s shortstop, Brittany Walker.
Although Coyle was a successful high school pitcher, it’s her slick fielding that impresses Walton the most.
“There’s no argument — she’s the best shortstop we’ve ever had,” he said. “She makes all the plays look easy.”
Coyle’s defensive skills have always been her calling card, and this year is no different.
Despite tying Megan Bush with a team-high five errors, she has impressed with some “wow” moments in the field.
“She made a great back-handed play in the first game with two outs and gunned the kid out with runners on first and third,” Walton said after Wednesday’s game against Mississippi State. “It’s awesome to rely on someone like that, and she’s only a freshman.”
As good as she has been with the glove, Coyle has also been solid at the plate with a .319 batting average and an impressive .457 on-base percentage.
While it has mostly been a smooth transition to the college game, it has taken some time for Coyle to adjust to hitting from 43 feet compared to 40 in high school, she said.
Despite hitting only four home runs, those numbers are nowhere near what she could produce in the future.
“She’s got the most pop of anyone on this team,” Walton said. “She’s got more power than [Kelsey] Bruder and [Brittany] Schutte. She just doesn’t have the swing or the confidence yet, but she’ll get better.”
Developing that power is nothing unusual, as many of the seniors struggled in their freshman campaigns before breaking out in year two.
Megan Bush, who leads the team in home runs (12) and RBIs (43), hit only .260 as a freshman, while Bruder hit .133 in limited playing time.
Coyle is expected to take over as one of the team’s top hitters once the senior class graduates next year, but she is taking it one step at a time.
“I started out well and then struggled for a little bit,” she said. “Every day, we get 1 percent better and keep working hard at the plate.”
Coyle and the rest of the No. 2 Gators will travel to Oxford, Miss., to take on Ole Miss in a three-game series starting today.
