Wait ‘Til Next Year

by mlmintampa on Jun 2, 2008 7:46 AM EDT in Florida Sports Grab Bag

Gators Softball was eliminated Sunday night from the Women’s College World Series, a run short of the Finals. The 1-0 loss to Texas A&M was in nine innings, the Gators third extra inning game of the tournament. It is hard to pick out one reason why a team loses, but it seemed as if UF had run out of gas. After losing to Louisiana-Lafayette to start the tournament, the Gators had to play back-to-back doubleheaders and go 4-0 to advance. The fatigue showed when the Gators could not score in the 6^th inning of game two against A&M, despite bases loaded with one out.

Florida won 70 games this season; an impressive number like the Patriots’ 18-1 is an impressive number. But where the Patriots were stacked with old men and cheaters, UF has only one senior and will have all the necessary pieces returning. Just as they had done this season, a deep run in the tournament is possible. A long hot summer and cold autumn sit between UF’s last and next at-bats. All they can do is wait ‘til next year.

Tweet Comment 1 comment | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Tough way to finish a record season

Thanks for all the love to the UF softball team – the best team Gainesville had to offer this year by far. I was on a cruise to the Bahamas, but caught the TAMU games (most of them anyway) in the ship’s sports bar.

It’s easy to pick out all kinds of ways you “coulda” won a 1-0 game, but the play that stands out for me was a coaching decision. I think it was the 6th or so inning and the Gators strung together 3 hits. with one out, the Gator’s third base coach started to send the runner home on the 3rd hit, but at the last second, threw up his hands and held her at third. The next batter hit an infield grounder for an easy force at home and the next batter flew out. You have to force your opponent to make plays. The throw could have been off, the catcher may not have fielded the throw cleanly, or dropped the ball, etc. So much has to happen perfectly for a non force out an out. You need to take your chances and try to produce a run in game against the best pitchers in the country. To depend on 4 hits in an inning to score is not reasonable – they sometimes don’t give up 4 hits in a game!

Oh well – great season and some unbelievable numbers.

by skigator93 on Jun 6, 2008 11:50 AM EDT reply actions