UF sluggers Jac Caglianone, Skylar Wallace share record-setting success

Pondering the first time she cleared the fence, Skylar Wallace whiffs — a rare strikeout for Florida’s star shortstop.

Even after Danny Wallace reminds his daughter of her rite of passage as a 10-year-old, Wallace is at a loss.

“That’s quite a many years ago,” the 23-year-old concludes. “I feel like it’s something most people would remember. But I have no idea.”

Meanwhile, Jac Caglianone’s first home run made a lasting impression.

The Gators’ super sophomore was 9, the pitch was a fast ball and he even took his eye off of it. Yet, Caglianone still cleared the left-centerfield fence, a harbinger of the hidden power now on full display.

“I remember watching it go over and I was just kind of in shock,” the 20-year-old recalled.

He also was hooked.

Then again, everyone digs the long ball, making it a good time to be a UF fan.

Record-setting sluggers do not grace the diamond every day. But there’s a power surge along Gainesville’s Hull Road, which separates Condron Family Ballpark and Katie Seashole Softball Stadium.

“It’s rare to have one on your campus, let alone two at the same time,” championship-winning softball coach Tim Walton said.

Caglianone and Wallace are rewriting history together and keeping an eye on each other’s success.

“Who wouldn’t want that to happen for the university?” Wallace said. “It’s pretty legit.”

During the Gators’ 7-5 win Tuesday night against Florida State, Caglianone hit his nation-leading 26th home run to tie the record set by Matt LaPorta in 2005 and tied in 2022 by Wyatt Langford.

During an 8-7 loss the next night to the rival Seminoles, Wallace cleared the fence twice to give her 18 home runs, the most since Lauren Haeger hit 19 in 2015 and 4 behind Brittany Schutte’s 2011 record 22. Entering the regular-season finale at Kentucky, time is running out — though anything can happen when Wallace has the bat in her hands.

On April 14 against rival Georgia, she was 4-for-4 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI during a 13-4 drubbing of the No. 12 Bulldogs.

“People asked me what I was eating for breakfast and how I was seeing the ball,” Wallace said. “One, I didn’t eat breakfast, so that’s kinda crazy, and two, I was just trying to hit the ball really hard.”

Wallace and Caglianone have been eating pitchers’ lunches all season.

The 5-foot-10 Wallace, who hails from the Atlanta area, possesses rare speed and power at a time when the softball has shifted away from pitching dominance. Her 18 home runs are tied for third in the SEC and she’s fourth with 52 RBI, but her SEC-leading 1.055 slugging percentage is on pace to shatter the UF record (.780) set in 2011 by Schutte.

Yet, Wallace does not just swing for the fences.

Her .602 on-base is ahead of Amanda Lorenz’s .582 standard set in 2018 while her .461 batting average is on track to better Michelle Moultrie’s record .443 from 2011.

A season after setting the school mark with 52 stolen bases, Wallace has 28 on 29 attempts. Her 8 triples are three shy of Kelsey Stewart’s record 11 in 2015. Wallace also has just 13 strikeouts in 128 at-bats.

“She’s in a class of her own,” Walton said. “The home runs, stolen bases, the RBI, the runs scored, the lack of strikeouts, the walks, the batting average …. you just don’t have players like that.”

Caglianone is an outlier, too.

Like Wallace, he recorded a 3-homer game — Feb. 26 against Cincinnati — and has five multi-dinger days in 2022. Highlighting his Bunyanesque strength, the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Caglianone smashed a 488-shot April 7 over the scoreboard at Tennessee.

His .866 slugging percentage is well ahead of LaPorta’s record .817 set in 2007 while his 162 total bases are closing in on Ryan Shealy’s record 186 in 2002.

“He’s the biggest, strongest kid on the field. It’s really that simple,” iconic coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He can miss balls and hit them out. He’s just physically gifted.”

Caglianone also is disciplined at the plate. He bats .364 and gets on base at a .418 clip, ranking third and fourth for the nation’s No. 4 team. During 46 games, he has gone without a hit or RBI just 10 times, one fewer than Langford, considered a surefire top-five draft pick in June.

“He does a really good job of making in-game adjustments,” O’Sullivan said of Caglianone. “If you go to the well too many times, he will make adjustments. He’s advanced that way.”

College baseball’s version of Anaheim Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani, Caglianone also throws a 97 mph fastball and has four games with at least 6 strikeouts. While his control needs to improve — he recorded at least 6 walks during three appearances — the left-hander is pitching for the first time since Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2021.

The lengthy recovery allowed him to fine-tune his swing mechanics while hitting off a tee.

A player who hit fewer than 10 home runs during his high school career has 33 in 291 at-bats for the Gators.

“I’ve always had a bunch of power but my swing was always more level so it always was more gap shots,” he said. “I got to restructure my swing and it’s translated to this year.”

Wallace also used time away from competition to tap more deeply into her power source. Since sitting out 2021 after transferring from Alabama, she has 26 home runs after hitting 8 during two seasons in Tuscaloosa.

The two Gators stars are now coming into their own at the same time while gladly sharing a path to the record books.

Wallace is friends with Caglianone’s girlfriend Elli McKissock, a defensive specialist on the volleyball team, and the two programs work with strength coach Paul Chandler.

“I met Skylar last year through friends. And our strength coach was like, ‘Yeah, she’s legit,’” Caglianone said. “Kind of kept up with her through Instagram. So, seeing where she’s at and where I’m at is pretty cool.”

As their bats continue to heat up, another base hit, home run or big moment awaits Florida’s Bash Siblings.

The key will be to remain present.

“Just calming the mind … You always have to go up with a game plan,” Caglianone explained. “It’s never really, ‘I’m a home run hitter.’ If you do that, half the time you’re never going to do it.”

Home runs are a rare thing, even for those who make hitting them look easy.

Asked to pick a favorite, Wallace drove the point home.

“I like them all,” she said. “Do I have to choose one?”

So even though Wallace’s first homer is now a faded memory, she realizes it was the start of something special.

“It’s been a dream of mine to be at the highest level and just do really cool things and be an inspiration to little girls,” she said. “Being able to do that has been making my day every day for the past couple of years. It’s just crazy to see my little self and look back and see where I am today.”