There are plenty of impressive numbers that describe the Florida softball team’s Class of 2011.
Try 182-20, the record the group has compiled over the past three years.
Or 773, the number of games started — a total that includes no shortage of postseason experience for this battle-tested core.
Perhaps five, the team’s preseason ranking — and the class’ number of remaining players: Stephanie Brombacher, Kelsey Bruder, Megan Bush, Tiffany DeFelice and Aja Paculba.
But there is one number that stands out to the Gators’ senior class.
Zero.
When the class came to Florida in 2008, the five players shared a common goal: to win a Women’s College World Series championship.
They have come devastatingly close to achieving that goal, but the Gators fell inches short of capturing the title in 2009 when they lost to Washington in the WCWS finals.
For all the work the five seniors have done to establish Florida as a viable national powerhouse, zero remains their motivation.
And there is only one way for the seniors to be remembered as truly great.
“It would be a national championship banner on that wall right there,” Bruder said, pointing to the outfield wall in Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
While the team finished the 2010 season 49-10, its worst record since 2007, there is plenty of optimism that these five can lead the Gators to the first WCWS title in school history.
Setting The Tone
Much of Florida’s hope for this year has to do with the mix of personality and playing style each senior brings to the team.
Bruder, the self-described “loud one” of the group, keeps her less outgoing teammates engaged from her spot in the outfield.
“We’re all very different and unique personalities, but we complement each other well,” Bruder said.
Paculba and Bush set the tone another way — not with their vocal skills, but by setting an example for their teammates.
Yet even they fill vastly different roles on the field. Paculba, the leadoff hitter, makes an impact in all three phases of the game. Bush’s power stroke has her 18 home runs away from surpassing Francesca Enea as the school’s all-time leader.
Their approach contrasts with the pitcher-catcher duo of Brombacher and DeFelice, who round out the group with their high level of intensity.
“T [DeFelice] does a great job behind the plate directing everyone and being vocal in that playmaking sense,” Bruder said.
Any differences in personalities, from loud and demonstrative to quiet and reserved, have been overshadowed by the collective work of the group — and their desire to achieve the same goal.
“If you look at us individually, we’re all different people, but I think we work well as a group,” Brombacher said. “We don’t all have to play with the same emotional levels, but we need to play together.”
Making A Name
Although the Gators’ seniors are now sharing the same path to success, they certainly didn’t take identical tracks to get there.
While Paculba came in and established herself as a starter from day one, Bruder had to overcome some major struggles her freshman year.
After hitting only .133 in 37 games (10 starts), Bruder knew the only way to make the year-two jump was to get more playing time.
She gave coach Tim Walton a simple request: Give me more at-bats.
“Freshman year, I got maybe one at-bat a game,” she said. “But being able to see the pitcher three times and just gaining confidence, I told him in the beginning of the year, if you give me three at-bats, I’m definitely getting on with one of them.”
Bruder has more than fulfilled that promise.
While establishing herself as a mainstay in the outfield, she has been just as reliable at the plate with batting averages of .369 and .367 over the past two seasons.
She currently holds the No. 1 spot in the team record book for career battering average (.343) and slugging percentage (.669). She also ranks third in on-base percentage (.429).
But the sight of her name in the record books doesn’t compare to being part of a championship team.
“Personal accolades don’t mean much if you can’t win,” Bruder said.
Bruder won’t have to campaign for at-bats like she did her freshman year, but she will have another obstacle to overcome in her final season. With the graduation of Enea, the senior will shift from right to left field.
Walton said he has no doubts about her ability to adjust to being the full-time left fielder. He said Bruder’s superior athleticism, strong throwing arm and competitive attitude make her a more than capable replacement.
But Bruder, one of the team’s strongest leaders, does not want the spotlight on herself or any individual’s accomplishments. Instead, she wants to continue improving the Florida softball program’s reputation — something she and her classmates have already helped accomplish in their first three years.
“I just want to continue to build into one of those great programs that you’ve heard of in the Pac-10,” she said. “If we can continue to form that reputation and keep getting great recruits, then we’ll be able to build into the legacies that the Pac-10 already have.”
Showing The Way
Perhaps no one embodies the seniors’ team-first attitude like Paculba.
While her quiet and focused approach may not draw the spotlight, she has let her play do the talking.
The reserved second baseman has started all 202 games of the senior class’s run and has been a steady force at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths.
Her .341 career batting average ranks second in school history, and she boasts a stellar 58 stolen bases to go along with a .968 fielding percentage.
Quiet, calm and composed in her play, Paculba is the definitive leader by example for her less experienced teammates.
“It’s about guiding the younger players, but not really taking them out of their zone or how they like to play,” Brombacher said.
For a team that will rely on young players like Brittany Schutte and freshmen Kasey Fagan and Cheyenne Coyle, having veterans who make it a point to be examples of how to do things right, both on and off the field, is crucial.
Schutte, who contributed immediately as a freshman last season, can attest to the stability and guidance the seniors provide.
“There’s quite a bit of them so they all know what to expect and they keep us pretty engaged,” Schutte said.
Yet, even with the experience and leadership they bring to the team, the seniors also benefit from the younger players.
While winning never becomes routine, there is an expectation to do so, Brombacher said.
That expectation of consistency isn’t as engrained in the new players, so that allows them to play with more energy and blends well with the older players.
“They play with a little bit more excitement than some of the seniors because they are excited as opposed to the business-like mentality of our senior group,” Walton said.
Even though the senior class has won two SEC titles and rewritten the record books, the lure of winning a national championship is the driving force behind all their hard work.
“It’s definitely bittersweet when you get to the World Series, but you don’t get to take the big trophy home,” Bruder said. “We’re definitely looking to do that this year, and with the additions that we’ve gotten in our freshman class, we definitely think we’re better than ever.”
To them, just getting to the tournament isn’t enough.
Making it to the finals doesn’t suffice.
Home runs and batting averages are simply meaningless numbers.
The only number they care about is zero.
And if they have anything to say about it, 2011 will be the year the outfield wall at Pressly Stadium receives its final touch.
“I could care less if I go out leading zero categories for a career,” Brombacher said. “If we walk out with a national championship that’s all the proof I need.”
