When Lauren Haeger arrived at UF, she didn’t expect she’d have the career she has had — a career decorated with conference accolades, school records and the cherry on top – a national championship.
But did coach Tim Walton, who recruited Haeger out of high school, know just how good of a player he was getting?
"To be honest, yeah," Walton said. "She’s a first-round draft pick if she’s a baseball player. I really expected a lot of great things out of what I saw out of her at a really young age."
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As a three-sport athlete at Peoria (Ariz.) Deer Valley High School, Haeger also lettered in volleyball and basketball.
But her softball talents were top-flight.
In her senior season, she hit .538, crushing a state of Arizona single-season record while hitting 21 home runs and striking out — get this — just twice the whole season.
In the circle, she went 26-5 with a 0.44 ERA to accompany a whopping 413 strikeouts in 208 innings en route to becoming an NFCA first team high school All-American.
Oh, and her 48 career homers tied the state’s record.
Simply put, she was an athletic freak in high school.
Prior to Haeger’s freshman year in 2012, the Gators were fresh off a second place finish in the 2011 Women’s College World Series to Arizona State – a school whose campus lies about 20 miles east of her hometown of Peoria.
The runner-up finish matched the furthest the Gators had ever gone in the WCWS at the time.
Haeger said she chose to go to Florida over nearby Pac-12 schools like Arizona State because she wanted to be in a new environment.
"I wanted to come to a college town, come to a football school, experience college in a way that not a lot of people can say they did," she said.
But one of the determining factors in her decision was Walton.
"I loved coach Walton and what he said," Haeger said. "He said we were gonna win a national championship, and we did."
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Walton didn’t waste any time finding production out of a young Haeger in 2012.
She started all 61 games that season and blossomed as she led the team in home runs (14) and RBIs (52).
Add in the fact that she went 15-5 with a 1.85 ERA in the circle, and Walton knew he struck gold with Haeger.
"I came in mostly, probably just as a pitcher," Haeger said. "I wanted to hit too and coach Walton knew that. We both didn’t ever expect it was gonna be this good I don’t think."
And it’s a good thing for the Gators that Haeger has done both hit and pitch, because she has 65 career home runs, which is tied for the program and Southeastern Conference record set by Megan Bush in 2011.
But Haeger, who loves blasting balls out of the park as much as the next player, said she doesn’t think about the record.
"I can’t, because then I’ll try to hit home runs and you can’t do that," she said. "To be honest, it’s not really the most important thing to me, but it is really a cool thing."
Walton said when Bush was approaching the record, he never discussed it with her, and he hasn’t with Haeger.
"She and I have never even talked about it," he said. "You just try to get them equipped with their strengths and do what they do well."
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Of the 65 home runs Haeger’s hit as a Gator, two stand out in her memory, and they came on the same day.
Flash back to March 17, 2013.
Haeger was a sophomore at the time.
Tennessee and Florida were in the middle of an intense series in Gainesville and had just split the first two games of the series after both were decided by extra innings.
Haeger, who was 1-for-8 in the series, knew she had to step it up at the plate in the Sunday rubber game.
"I had been struggling the whole series," she said.
The Gators found themselves down 3-0 to the Volunteers in the sixth inning of what was quickly shaping up to be a loss.
But then Haeger struck with two thunderous blows.
She tied the game at three with a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and later cranked a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to seal the win and take the series.
"I don’t really know how I did it because they had a great pitching staff," she said, "but I did and that was probably the most memorable for me."
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While Haeger has had many memorable games and moments on the field, she’s also made unforgettable friendships.
Haeger met a teammate in 2012 that would play alongside her for years to come in Bailey Castro.
Castro, who was also a freshman at the time, didn’t see as much playing time as Haeger did – she started just 33 games that season – but the two quickly became good friends on and off the field.
Now as their collegiate careers begin to wind down, they’re trying to have as much fun as they can together.
The pair routinely dances in the on-deck circle before they go to bat.
"It’s really easy on the field to joke with each other just to kind of take that serious edge out of it and loosen up," Castro said.
The dynamic duo has also served to be the middle of the lineup for most of this year – they’ve batted back-to-back in 34 of Florida’s 44 games this season – and have kept constant pressure on pitchers.
Haeger leads the team with 13 homers and Castro's 11 are tied for second.
Yet while the two are good pals, you can bet there’s competition between them.
"It’s funny because me and Lauren always joke around – I always try to out hit her," Castro said.
"Lauren’s a great hitter and I’ve been on this team a long time with her, and I know the great things she can do. I just try to keep up with her if I can."
Even Walton, who preaches that pitching and defense wins games, knows he’s lucky to have such a consistent one-two punch in the middle of the lineup.
"They’re both very patient, they both can drive in runs, they both can hit the ball out of the ballpark," Walton said. "You just can’t breathe if you’re a pitcher and you gotta get through those two."
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There’s no doubt that Haeger has an infectious personality, one that seems to attract teammates to her like a magnet.
Junior Kirsti Merritt, who has played alongside Haeger the last three years, will be the first to tell you how great it is to play with her.
"She has a very vibrant attitude and you can tell whenever she’s pitching out there that she has a lot of emotion," Merritt said. "You just feed off of her whenever she’s in the pitcher’s mound or when she’s hitting or doing anything."
And like Haeger and Castro’s bond, Merritt and Haeger both have fun with each other. Merritt has experienced the more comedic side of Haeger.
"We have some really good laughs in the locker room, she’s got some really good jokes," Merritt said. "My favorite part of her is her voices. She cracks me up with all her imitations she can do."
Haeger’s best imitation? Merritt says it’s the voice of Gru from "Despicable Me".
"We were on the bus and just like dying laughing over her Gru voice," she said. "That was probably one of the best memories with her."
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In her senior season, Haeger has carried the Gators with her bat and her arm. After losing Hannah Rogers following last season, Haeger worked hard in the Fall on her pitching endurance to help propel her as the ace of the pitching staff.
It’s certainly paid off.
She’s a perfect 19-0 on the season with a 1.03 ERA.
UF's Lauren Haeger pitches during Florida's 7-1 win against Kansas on Feb. 21 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
While she leads the team in most statistical categories, she’s been a leader to Florida’s No. 2 pitcher — freshman Aleshia Ocasio.
"She’s definitely helped me with my composure, she tells me not to get ahead of myself," Ocasio said. "She’s been taking me under her wing."
But even the veteran Haeger needs encouragement from her teammates — one of whom happens to be her catcher, junior Aubree Munro.
"She usually just needs me to go out there and be like, ‘you know what, you look great in uniform today," Munro said.
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As Haeger’s remarkable season continues, her career won’t wind down this year.
She was drafted by the Dallas Charge with the 21st overall pick in the fourth round of this year’s National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft.
Dallas is about a 15 hour drive from Peoria and lies just two states away.
"It’s a team she really wanted to play for and a good opportunity for her," Walton said. "She’s one flight away from all of her family being able to see her play at home."
Haeger will join two other Gators from last year’s national championship team to play in the league in Rogers and infielder Stephanie Tofft.
Though she was close with Rogers, Haeger said she’s not disappointed that she won’t be joining Rogers on USSSA Pride, which is based out of Orlando.
"I love Hannah and we’re gonna play a lot against each other and we’ll see each other," Haeger said. "It would’ve been fun either way."
Though Walton, who has coached in the NPF for two years, said the league is full of the best of the best from college, he said Haeger will hold her own.
"Lauren is that player that we recruited, I mean if anyone has a chance to go on and have a professional career, I figured it would be her," he said.
And if anyone knows best, it’s Walton, who knew from the moment he saw Haeger play in high school that she would develop into a star.
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
UF's Lauren Haeger fist bumps coach Tim Walton after hitting a home run during Florida's 4-1 win against Illinois State on Feb. 21 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
