Walton is in his 20th season as the head coach and holds a record of 1,000-239 (.807) in Gainesville.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Head coach Tim Walton cliched his 1000th win as Florida’s head coach on Friday evening in the Gators’ 9-1 six-inning victory over Samford on the first day of the Florida Invitational.
No. 3 Florida (20-1) earned its 13th run-rule of the season over the Bulldogs (10-6), with five different Gators recording multi-hit performances.
Freshman Taylor Shumaker went 3-for-4 at the plate, while junior Kenleigh Cahalan and senior Reagan Walsh each had two doubles apiece.
Cahalan drove in a game-best three runs, including her third sacrifice fly of the season.
Senior Kara Hammock (4-0) remained undefeated in the circle as a Gator, allowing just one run and striking out four in five innings as she picked up her fourth win.
NOTABLES:
* Gators Head Coach Tim Walton secured his 1000th win as the head coach of the Florida program
* Walton is in his 20th season as the head coach and holds a record of 1,000-239 (.807) in Gainesville
* Overall, Walton holds a career record of 1,123-303 (.788) in 23 seasons as a head coach
* Walton currently ranks eighth of all active Division I coaches in career wins
* The Gators move to 4-0 in the all-time series over the Bulldogs
* Florida had a season-high six doubles on the night: Reagan Walsh (2), Kenleigh Cahalan (2), Gabi Comia (1) and Taylor Shumaker (1)
* Senior Kendra Falby has reached base in all 21 games this season
* Falby and Shumaker each had two stolen bases on the night
* Falby now has 103 career stolen bases, including 21 this season. She needs 10 more to move into a tie with Kelsey Stewart (113) for second-most in Florida program history. Skylar Wallace (119) currently holds the program record
* Comia made her sixth start, plating a pair of runs on an RBI double, the second multi-RBI game of her career
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH TIM WALTON:
On what 1,000 wins as a Gator means…
“A thousand is a lot; it’s more than 50 a year for 20 years. It just tells you how consistent our program has been, but most importantly, how many great players we’ve had. The milestone that we hit is pretty special and it’s hard to do.”
On what it meant to celebrate this milestone with his current team…
“I watched the celebration video play and all of the players that I’m with now, came here because of the former players on the screen. There’s going to be players five years from now that are going to come to Florida because of the legacy they have left behind. These players came here because of Jordan Matthews’ walk-off hit, they came here because of Amanda Lorenz and Kelly Barnhill and some of the special players before them.
Now you’ll have the new crew coming in because of Skylar Wallace, because of Reagan Walsh and Kendra Falby and the list goes on and on and on. That’s the part I wanted them to be proud of. This team’s legacy is still being written and they have a long way to go. I love the fact that they work really hard and they appreciate the grind.”
On sophomore pitcher Keagan Rothrock’s status….
“Keagan is going on the IL. It doesn’t appear to be serious, but we’re going to take the necessary precautions to get her back to 100%. In our program, we have her listed as day-to-day and she will return to practice and game activity shortly.”
NOTABLE WALTON WINS AS A GATOR:
No. 226 – May 31, 2009: Ali Gardner walk-off grand slam over Alabama in the Women’s College World Series (WCWS)
No. 314 – April 23, 2011: Kelsey Bruder walk-off home run vs. Alabama
No. 436 – May 26, 2013: Florida wins Super Regionals game two over UAB
No. 492 – June 3, 2014: Florida wins its first NCAA title over Alabama
No. 550 – May 31, 2015: Nicole DeWitt walks off Auburn in the WCWS
No. 552 – June 3, 2015: Florida repeats as NCAA Champions, besting Michigan in the Women’s College World Series
No. 721 – May 26, 2019: Jordan Matthews walks off Texas A&M in Super Regional game three
No. 766 – May 11, 2019: Florida wins its fifth SEC Tournament over Alabama
No. 887 – May 29, 2022: Florida defeats Virginia Tech in game three of Super Regionals, advancing to the WCWS
No. 972 – May 11, 2024: Florida claims its sixth SEC Tournament title over Missouri
No. 977 – May 26, 2024: The Gators defeat Baylor in game three of Super Regional, advancing to the WCWS for the 12th time
UP NEXT:
The Gators play a doubleheader against Troy and Western Michigan starting at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
For the full tournament schedule, as well as results and how to follow the action, fans can visit the Florida Invitational Tournament Central.<https://floridagators.com/sports/2025/2/25/florida-invitational.aspx>
