… Head Coach Tim Walton and the National Champion Florida Gators.

Kelly Barnhill, rated as the No. 1 pitcher in the senior class in the Full Count Softball Hot 100 released earlier this year, has long been undecided whether she would sign with Florida or Stanford.

That decision finally came Monday night as she texted several Gator recruits to let them know she would be joining them in Gainesville.  A couple of them reached out to Full Count Softball, but we were asked to wait until this morning to report as Kelly had not told the Stanford coaches when we first learned about 10 pm EST/ 7 pm PST.

Ultimately, the chance to play closer to home – Kelly is from Georgia and plays club ball with the East Cobb Bullets-Schnute team – won out over the strong academics of Stanford, although the Cardinal, despite being on the other coast, did have another advantage in that several of Barnhill’s family lives close to the Bay Area.

Kelly, who was rated as the No. 2 prospect in the 2015 class, took her official visit to the Univ. of Florida the weekend of October 11-12 along with several other elite recruits including Amanda Lorenz, rated as the No. 1 player in the senior class.

In the Hot 100 write-up for Kelly, it stated in part, “Throwing consistently in the 69-70 mph range (and having been clocked as high as 73 mph), Kelly also mixes in a rise and drop ball complemented by a change-up that can make batters look foolish. As a junior, she went 16-3 with a 0.52 ERA and limited opposing hitters to a .070 average to earn All-State honors for the second year in a row.”

Another reason Kelly was so coveted is that she’s a workhorse and can a team on her back, which she did at several events this year, ranging from the So Cal Athletics Invitational in June where she had 17 K’s in one game and 11 in the next to Boulder where she helped the Bullets go deep into the playoff bracket to PGF Nationals where she struck out all 15 batters she faced in one six inning win (a teammate pitched the final inning).

At the A’s Invitational, I interviewed Kelly and asked her about the recruiting process among other topics… here’s that video clip: