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The Florida Gators are projected to finish seventh in the SEC Coaches Poll, which was released by the league Wednesday.
This comes after Florida’s 2023 campaign, in which the Gators made it to the Palo Alto Regional of the NCAA Tournament. Florida was one of only three teams who received a first place vote, with Georgia and Tennessee receiving six a-piece. The SEC Coaches Poll is made up votes from the SEC’s 13 head coaches. Each coach gets one vote and can not vote for their own team.
📢 #SECSB preseason poll announced,@Vol_Softball favorite to claim conference title!
🥎 → https://t.co/QasllAqyNj pic.twitter.com/f8ISSZ04a7
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) January 24, 2024
Two Gators Named to Preseason All-SEC Team
Skylar Wallace and Kendra Falby were named to the Preseason All-SEC Team today. The Gators’ two selections are tied for the third-most among SEC teams.
Wallace is a Redshirt Senior who transferred to Florida from Alabama after the 2020 season. While at UF, Wallace has racked up a number of accolades.
These have included SEC Player of the Year, NFCA Player if the Year, NFCA All-American Team and All-SEC First Team nods, all coming during her redshirt junior season. She currently holds the Florida Gators Softball single-season records for batting average, slugging percentage and on base percentage with a slash line of .447/.980/.595.
Falby is coming off a sophomore season in which she was named to the SEC-All American Team. The junior outfielder’s batting average of .403 is the second best all time for a sophomore at UF.
Falby and Wallace were responsible for a third of the Gators total runs scored (128-of-383), as well as two-thirds of the Gators stolen bases (57-of-85) last season.
Preseason All-SEC Team Honors 💥
📰 » https://t.co/mGgy2Kn90y | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/3ipHg7wyr2
— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) January 24, 2024
The Gators will look to improve on their 38-22 record from last year. Florida’s 11-13 conference record earned then an eighth place finish in the SEC. Florida lost to ninth-seed Stanford in the Palo Alto Regionals.
Florida takes on the Oregon State Beavers Feb. 9 in the USF-Rawlings Invitational. Conference play will begin March 8 when Wallace, Falby and the Gators travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Tide.
