TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Power Trip Could Send No. 1 Gators, Ratliff To Series

ADVERTISEMENT

By KARL HYPPOLITE

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 23, 2008

GAINESVILLE - Mary Ratliff takes pride in saying she is the most-tenured member of Florida's No. 1-ranked softball team.

As the Gators' lone senior, she remembers a time before Florida was arguably the best team in the nation, before third-year coach Tim Walton transformed the fledgling program.

"I always say I've been around this program longer than anyone else here," said Ratliff, the starting right fielder. "... But every year the program has changed a little bit and gotten a little bit better, and it's been fun going through the process."

Today and Saturday, Ratliff and the Gators (65-3) host California (43-25) in an NCAA Super Regional. The winner of the best-of-three series advances to the College World Series, where Florida has never been.

But the program isn't the only thing that has changed during Ratliff's tenure.

Ratliff, a Kentucky native, garnered a rather unflattering nickname from her teammates early in her career: WTP. It stood for Warning Track Power, a reference to her inability to hit home runs.

Then, last season, Ratliff hit her first home run in her 136th career at-bat. Now, big home runs by Ratliff are no longer rare.
Ratliff has nine homers this season, including two walk-off drives. She was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week in early March after a three-homer week, including a three-run, walk-off home run in a 4-3 victory against Stanford. More recently, her grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the Gators a 4-1 victory against Alabama in the SEC Tournament title game.

"She's a lot stronger this year ... and she's worked really hard for it," junior outfielder Kim Waleszonia said. "Maybe all that teasing paid off."
Ratliff enjoys her role as Florida's elder stateswoman, but Waleszonia took it a step further.

"She's like the mom," Waleszonia said. "She takes care of everybody and kicks them in the butt when she needs to and gives them a hug when they're feeling down. I've seen her change night and day from last year and take a role of talking to everybody."

There are times Ratliff feels like the old person on the team, but she laughed off the maternal label.

"I think I sometimes get credit for things that I don't do," she said.
Ratliff is batting .307 this season with 45 RBIs and 40 runs. Her leadership and maturity, Walton said, are key elements to the best season in program history.

"She's our leader both on and off the field," Walton said. "She's had a great season, the best season of her career. She's poised, funny, athletic and smart. She just does so many good things for this team."

The Gators have set single-season school records for wins, runs (393), RBIs (344) and home runs (60), and are on pace to set several more. But Ratliff isn't ready to look back.

"It's good to think about those numbers when you're old and have your kids and show them what you did," she said. "I think that's the sign of a good team."

If the Gators maintain their pace, "Mom" will have a number of interesting stories to tell.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT