For almost every Florida sports team, the story of the 2015-16 season was high expectations left unfulfilled. Multiple teams — including baseball and softball — were primed to be title contenders only to fall short. This week, alligatorSports Editor Ian Cohen and Assistant Sports Editor Ethan Bauer debate which 2015-16 Florida team had the most disappointing finish to its season.
Ethan:
One team towers over the rest as UF’s most disappointing of the season, and that’s the baseball team.
Going into the College World Series — which the Gators entered as the consensus No. 1 seed of the eight teams — UF had won 52 of 66 games. That’s more than any team in the country.
First baseman Peter Alonso was arguably the hottest hitter in the country when the CWS started, going 5-for-11 with three RBIs in the Super Regional series.
And Vegas oddsmakers at SuperBook even gave the Gators a 9-to-5 chance of winning it all.
This was the year. This was the team that was going to claim UF’s first national title in baseball.
But the lights at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha were too bright for the Gators, who collapsed like the Roman Empire.
The Gators went two-and-out, losing to Coastal Carolina, which was making its first CWS trip, and Texas Tech.
It’s true that in baseball, success can be sliced by a slump at a bad time. The Gators now know that all too well.
But with the expectations this team carried into Omaha, the baseball team’s back-to-back losses at the beginning of the tournament left Florida fans collectively deflated more than any other UF team did.
Ian:
Yeah, the baseball team fell short of expectations. But no Florida team ended the season farther away from its projected finish than softball.
This was a team that had won two-straight national championships only to be embarrassingly ousted in two-straight defeats at the NCAA Super Regionals. Georgia came to Gainesville and quickly closed the door on Florida’s hunt at history — the Gators were trying to become just the second team in Division I softball history to three-peat.
Instead, the No. 1-ranked team in the country failed to reach the College World Series for the first time since 2012.
And, to top it off, UF had arguably its most talented pitching staff in program history.
Two of Florida’s pitchers finished the season with the second- and third-best ERAs in the country, and their third pitcher placed 11th. Sophomore Aleshia Ocasio was second in the nation at 0.77, junior Delanie Gourley was third at 0.80 and freshman Kelly Barnhill rounded out the UF’s pen with a 1.36 ERA.
Yeah, Peter Alonso is a good hitter, but no member of UF’s baseball team was as dominant at their respective position as softball’s pitching staff, which makes UF’s end to its season all the more disappointing.
Ethan:
Oh Ian, you colorblind grump. That doesn’t prove anything.
Your reasoning seems to hinge on two main points.
First, softball was disappointing because of their status as the No. 1, defending back-to-back national champions, and second, because their pitching was so elite it was thought to be untouchable. So when someone finally did touch it, the letdown was enormous.
But the baseball team’s pitching was just as elite. A.J. Puk — the sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft — was the third-best starter on the team.
Alex Faedo — the No. 3 starter — struck out the third-most batters in the nation.
And Logan Shore was the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year and didn’t lose a game the entire regular season.
In short, both pitching staffs were elite and both faltered at the worst time possible. They’re equal in that regard.
Second, you claim that because the softball team was so good for so long, the fact that it lost early makes for a massive letdown. I won’t dispute that statement’s validity.
What I will dispute, though, is that not winning a third-straight title is somehow more disappointing than never winning one at all.
Yes, it would be nice to become just the second NCAA softball team to ever clinch a three-peat, but hard core UF softball fans have already been spoiled; they’ve been to title town. It’s become normal.
Meanwhile, this wasn’t a normal season for UF baseball. It wasn’t merely another shot at the title like it was for softball.
It was a shot at the first title ever.
Now, all the baseball team is destined for is remembrance as one of the biggest letdowns in recent UF athletics history.
Ian:
Alright, pay attention Ethan, or at least focus for as long as those sketchy caffeine pills that you buy from gas stations will allow you to.
It’s not merely disappointing that softball didn’t win three-straight championships, it’s disappointing that they lost so early — in the Super Regionals, in two games to Georgia, a team that had made the Women’s College World Series just twice in program history.
What hurts the most is the fact that Florida didn’t even get a chance to defend their titles. In the end, the No. 1 team in the country wasn’t good enough to get out of their own Super Regional bracket.
The baseball team got to Omaha. They got to the College World Series, and although they did lose in two-straight games, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. In 2012, Florida made it to the CWS, lost twice, and was sent home.
Still don’t believe me?
Take it from the baseball coach himself, Kevin O’Sullivan, immediately after his team was eliminated by Texas Tech:
“I know from some of the questions that have been asked, ‘you feel like you fell short?’” he said. “To look at two games — we lost 2-1 and 3-2, and to look at those guys in the locker room and think, boy, the season’s been a failure. If getting to Omaha is a failure, then — I don’t look at it that way.”
Aleshia Ocasio pitches in the first game of Florida's doubleheader against Jacksonville on Feb. 17, 2016, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
