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The Back Nine comes at you with this really sad feeling that we are closing in on the end of college sports for another academic season. Of course, we do have three of the four Majors left.
10. Let’s start off today talking about what softball was able to do over the weekend, which was to bounce back from an extra-inning loss to win the next two games against No. 1 Oklahoma. Tim Walton talked a lot after the game about how his team finally played like he knew it could play and this is a good time to be doing that. The Gators next play Wednesday in the SEC Tournament and should be in good shape to be a top eight seed with an RPI at No. 2 in the country. This is not your father’s softball, because the young ladies in the sport have become stronger and better developed from the hours of travel ball they put in. All the games used to be 1-0. Now it feels like they are all 6-4. Which is way better than 1-0 in the old days when they would put a runner on second in extra innings just to try to end it.
11. Kendra Falby. Two words. She’s ridiculous. But softball fans already know that. Two catches over the fence this weekend, goodness gracious! Falby also ended up scoring the winning run in Saturday’s game. It’s at the point where you can’t believe an opponent’s home run got past her glove. Maybe UF should start putting pavers in front of the stadium for its All-Americans. Of course, that would mean a lot of pavers.
13. I know the last thing any regional host will want to see is Florida pop up on the screens as a two seed on Selection Day. The Gators have won 13 of 15 and now have Pierce Coppola back (he threw just an inning Sunday). They are hitting with power and stealing bases and, yes, baseball is fun again after that 1-11 SEC start.
14. Boy, the Big 12 clearly didn’t know what it was getting into when it brought in Florida to play lacrosse. The Gators finished off the sweep Saturday of the regular-season and tournament titles. It’s still so weird to think of Florida being a Big 12 team in any sport, but Mandee O’Leary keeps getting it done. I actually watched a lot of Saturday’s match and Arizona State was overwhelmed by a 6-0 Florida third quarter.
15. They do get to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, with Mercer coming down I-75 Friday at 4 p.m. Florida won at Mercer 22-9 earlier this season so the Gators should advance to the second-round game at the Diz on Sunday at 12:30. Baseball and softball are away from home so go give the ladies your support.
16. There are a lot of websites proclaiming Florida’s football team to be the dark horse of the SEC. The trouble is that the more you say it during the summer, the more you find the flaws. Look, this is all predicated on the health of DJ Lagway. He is the X-Factor. The pieces have all been put around him. Also, I love the song “Dark Horse” by George Harrison (not Katy Perry). “I’m a blue moon/Since I stepped out of the womb/I’ve been a cool jerk.”
17. Doesn’t it feel like things have been going right for Gator sports since the basketball team won the national title? I’m a big believer that winning breeds more winning. Hey, even my Warriors won Game 7 Sunday night. Yay me!
18. I got on my wife because the only game she went to this weekend was Florida’s Thursday night softball loss. She’ll be OK, because I made this playlist for her:
- ”Want To Know” by Free Range.
- “Walking With A Ghost” by Tegan and Sara.
- And for an old one “Lips Like Sugar” by Echo and the Bunnymen.
WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.
