Tis the season for official campus visits and a big one happened a week ago when the National Champion Florida Gators brought in seven commits and one who would eventually commit, Kelly Barnhill, who chose UF last night.

Amanda Lorenz, the No. 1 player in the 2015 Hot 100 top prospects in the country, was one of those on the visit and in today’s blog recaps how that weekend went and what the eight recruits did in Gainesveille.

Amanda is a senior from Moorpark (Calif.) and was a 1^st Team Full Count Softball All-American in high school this spring when she hit .642 this year with eight home runs and 22 doubles.

She also added “National Champion” to her resume as she hit lead-off for the OC Batbusters-Haning/Stith team that won the PGF 18U Premier Nationals in August, hitting .478 for the week in bracket play and had at least one hit in all seven games (with two hits in four of the seven). In the championship game, a 3-0 win over the Corona Angels, Amanda went 2-for-3 with a key RBI double.

As a sophomore, the Florida commit won several national, state and local honors at the high school level in 2013 including MaxPreps Underclass All-American, CalHiSports.com All-State and Ventura County Star Player of the Year after batting .626 with 17 home runs and compiling a spectacular 1.377 slugging percentage.

In 2013, Amanda also helped lead Team Mizuno-Stith to the PGF 18U National Championship game and in 2012 she was part of the 16U team that won the PGF national title.

Finally, her prolific hitting stroke has some coaches and scouts saying she’s one of the best hitters to ever come out of Southern California.

Click here to read Amanda’s earlier blogs and those from our other outstanding bloggers!

Also, check out the video of Amanda after she learns of being named No. 1 in the 2015 class

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Last weekend, the weekend of October 10-11, I had my official visit to the University of Florida. I left Thursday morning and got to Gainesville at around 7:30 that night.

The next morning was when the visit festivities began.

We met in the lobby of our hotel at 11 am and that is when I got to meet all of the other recruits, which was awesome because I only knew Sophia Reynoso because we play together on the Batbusters.

There were seven of us that were committed and one that was not committed at the time. I met Brooke Clemens, Lily Mann, Theresa Swertfager, Alex Voss, Ashley Guilette, and Kelly Barnhill. Kelly wasn’t committed at the time of our visit but she just committed last night!

We first met with the strength and conditioning coach, then met with the nutritionist, then went to lunch.

Lunch was really cool because once we got there all of our hosts were there waiting for us. My host was my former teammate, Justine McLean. It was so good to see her and my other former teammate, Janell Wheaton.

After lunch, we toured the dorms then went shopping at the bookstore for some Gator gear.

The softball team had a fall game that night so we then went to the softball fields to watch pregame warm up and eat the pregame meal with the team. After the game, we got to go hangout with the players off campus, which was really cool because on unofficial visits you aren’t allowed to go off campus with the coaches or any of the players.

The next morning, we had breakfast with our hosts, parents, and the coaches. Being with our hosts so much, it allowed us to ask them any questions we had and it was cool to hear their advice on certain things.

We had a quick meeting with the academic adviser before having 4 hours of free time with the players before the softball tailgate. We got ready for the game and spent time with the players then headed over to the softball tailgate that overlooked the baseball field.

I was shocked to see the amount of people that station themselves around campus tailgating and getting ready for the game. We had Chick Fil A and played Corn Hole then headed over to The Swamp for the football game against LSU.

This was my first football game that I’ve ever been to in the Swamp and wow was it an experience. There was orange and blue absolutely EVERYWHERE throughout Gainesville and once we got in the Swamp there was even more.

The recruits got to go down on the field for pre game and it was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. Everyone there was so passionate about UF and it made me so proud that I will be a student-athlete there.

Hearing all the fans scream while they do their Gator chomps when the football team ran out on the field made me 200% sure about going to UF!

When the game was about to start, we were forced to go up to the student section for the game. I was so bummed we had to leave the field but once I got up to the student section the view was just as beautiful.

The softball team got recognized at half time for winning the National Championship and then we all left and went to dinner. Although they lost, it was so much fun and I can’t wait to attend every home game in the Swamp next year.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Panera then said our goodbyes. I had such a blast and I can’t wait to get to Gainesville and wear the Orange and Blue!!

Go Gators!!!

Til next time,

Amanda