Florida Gator softball dynasty… Part II?
In 2014 and 2015, the Tim Walton-led Florida Gators won back-to-back Women’s College World Series titles with a team full of athletic standouts who were also excellent in playing within the team concept.
Players such as Hannah Rogers, Delanie Gourley, Aleshia Ocasio and Lauren Haeger were the dominant forces on the mound with excellen position players such as catcher Aubree Munro, infielder Kelsey Stewart and outfielder Kristi Merritt leading the position player roster.
Since then, programs such as Oklahoma (three times), Florida State and UCLA have won the WCWS but if recruiting is the beginning pipeline for a team winning championships, then Coach Walton and his coaches must be smiling ear to ear after locking in five of the top players in the Class of 2023.
According to multiple sources—including our conversations with families and coaching staffs—the SEC program now has five of the best players in the current junior class already committed; using the most recent 2023 Extra Elite 100 rankings, the Gators have commits from #1 Mia Williams, an infielder; #2 Keagan Rothrock, a pitcher; #3 Ava Brown, a pitcher/first baseman; #11 Alyssa Hovermale, an infielder and #13 Ariel “AK” Kowalewski, a catcher/utility player.
This after three standouts in the 2022 class—#1 Sam Roe, a catcher; #3 Kaila Pollard, infielder/outfielder and NR Olivia Gigante, pitcher/utility player—visited officially last weekend (click here to read Roe’s blog of the weekend on campus).
Obviously, the Gators are getting a strong infusion of incoming talent to make the softball program as competitive as any in the nation… and hopefully, for UF fans, get them back on the same level of success as those teams in 2014 and ’15.
One of those new commits we’re intrigued most about is Hovermale, who plays for one of the top club organizations in the nation right now, Athletics – Mercado, and one of the top high school softball programs, Norco (California) High led by another excellent coach in Rick Robinson.
Last year, the infielder helped the Cougars make it to the semi’s of the CIF Southern Section DI players and her coach speaks highly of the high schooler’s play.
“Lou’s strengths are producing runs and playing a solid third base as good as anyone in So Cal,” Coach Robinson says. “She has improved each year she has been at Norco and I am glad she has two more years here before she moves on to Florida. Lous has also become a team leader and is well respected by all of her teammates.”
Alyssa, who goes by “Lou,” will all but certainly move up into the Top 10 when the 2023 rankings are updated again after a strong summer in ’21.
In the Spring she was ranked #11 in the Extra Elite 100 and here’s what we said about her then:
T-11—Alyssa Hovermale, 3B/2B, Athletics – Mercado – Greg/Tidd
Alyssa has been one of the best players in the class for a number of years and is the prototypical coach’s daughter (her dad is Rick Hovermale) who outworks just about everybody and understands the game on an elite level. “Lou,” says Coach Greg Borzilleri “is unquestionably one of the best all-around ball players in the country and one of the best players on a loaded team.” Offensively she hits in the middle of the line up for the AMGT squad and is one of the leaders in most offensive categories. Additionally, her knowledge of the game and her defensive ability has her playing both corners and short stop. “Once the ‘23 class becomes available, Alyssa is sure to be off the board extremely quickly with interest from schools in every major conference.”
Lou committed to Florida on Sunday night and we caught up with her and her father last night to get more details on her commit… here’s our Q&A with the well-spoken athlete, who carries a 3.7 GPA, along her father Rick who joined us for parts of the conversation on the phone…
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Extra Inning Softball: Busy week for you, right? You were at Florida mid-week last week and got back Sunday from at trip to Oklahoma Sunday night…
Alyssa Hovermale: Yes, I had already tripped to Baylor and Oklahoma was my last trip and I got back Sunday night. I had two other trips scheduled but cancelled those. I called the four schools after my flight home from Oklahoma Sunday afternoon and committed to Coach Walton after I had finished calling my other schools. I knew on the plane ride back that Florida was the place for me.
EIS: How did Florida come into the picture, had they followed you for a long time?
AH: From what I know, Florida started looking at me over the Summer and when Sept. 1 came and they could reach out, they called me and told me they had interest in me. We then talked about me taking an unofficial visit which I did last week.
EIS: What was it about the Gators that won you over, was there an “aha” moment when it hit you that Gainesville was the place for you?
AH: I actually fell in love with Florida before I even went there, the coaches are like my coaches in club and high school. I knew what I wanted going into the process and they check all the boxes. Then, when I went to Gainesville, I had that “aha moment” which a lot of people told me about and that I’d have: a feeling that I’d know the right place when I saw it. I felt that when walking around campus and getting to see the perspective of the people there, the current players, the ex-players and even those who played against them. Everyone had such great things to say (about the program) and I felt it too.
EIS: Talk about Sept. 1… what was that like, getting contacted by interested universities?
Rick Hovermale: It was crazy! Lou ended up with 25 calls starting at midnight and they went to 2 am… then they started at 8 am and went all the way through the day to 9 pm!
*** Scroll down to see what else the highly-ranked junior says and thinks about Florida and Coach Walton!
