On Wednesday, USA Softball announced the “watch list” for the 2018 Collegiate Player of the Year award. Two Gators were among the fifty student-athletes selected as juniors Kelly Barnhill and Amanda Lorenz were both named.
Barnhill, a righthanded pitcher from Marietta, Georgia, earned the 2017 honor in addition to the Honda Award, and even won the programs first ESPY award. Barnhill finished 2017 with a 26-4 record and a 0.51 ERA. Barnhill struck out 359 batters in 193.2 innings.
Lorenz, an outfielder from Moorpark, California, was a 2017 All-American and earned All-WCWS honors as well. Lorenz led the Gators with a .388 batting average in 2017 and added 11 homers and 46 RBIs.
Florida will begin their season in the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament on February 8th in Tampa and will host North Florida on February 14 in their home opener.
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*Information for this article was provided by the official UF softball press release.