The sounds of about 1,600 clapping Gators fans resounded in Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium as pitcher Kelly Barnhill readied herself for the final throw of the day.
Palm trees bristled and clay clouded the air on Sunday in Coral Gables.
The beginning of game two between the Gators and Hurricanes was less baseball and more slapstick comedy.
After his team claimed the opening tip-off, Auburn guard Mustapha Heron started driving toward the basket from the right side before stopping to make a pass through the paint. The ball never reached its target.
Florida guard KeVaughn Allen remained impossibly composed. Despite having just launched the ball 65 feet through the air to connect on a first-half buzzer beater, he wore his usual collected, serious expression.
It was the hit that no one saw coming.
Lloydricia Cameron stood inside Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium ready for her chance to win the first SEC indoor title of her collegiate career.
Last year, Stanford was defeated by Florida in the NCAA championship match. This year, it hoped to get its revenge.
Florida hadn’t won a meet in which it dropped the doubles point all season. Against Saint Mary’s (4-5), the pairing of senior Josie Kuhlman and freshman McCartney Kessler lost the deciding set in the doubles point, setting up the expectation of UF’s demise.
Center fielder Nick Horvath coiled his arms into his sides, arched his back and glared at Miami starting pitcher Jeb Bargfeldt. With a runner on first base in the third inning, the Gators were in unfamiliar territory: losing in a baseball game against the Hurricanes.
The air in the O’Connell Center was stale with the shock of a crowd of 8,321. No one spoke as all eyes in the arena focused on senior Kennedy Baker, who sat clutching her foot following a fall during her floor routine.
The crowd at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium fell silent in the top of the fourth inning. Then, it erupted in cheers as UF softball players funneled out of their dugout.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are competing in their home pool this weekend for the first time in over a month.
When the Gators entered the 2018 spring season just eight months removed from winning a national championship, they were the third-ranked team in the nation.
What is the Gators’ secret to staying fresh between games?
At James G. Pressly Stadium on Tuesday, you could hear the deafening blast of a starter pistol going off every few minutes, followed by the sight of a small puff of smoke whirling up into the air.
Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium fell silent Wednesday night with nothing but the wind blowing through the once echoing bleachers full of rowdy Gators fans.
It doesn’t get any easier for Mike White and the Gators.
The Florida gymnastics team is finding its groove, having won its previous five meets by an average of 0.480 points.
The 16th and final NCAA baseball regional announced in 2017 was Gainesville. The Gators obviously knew they were in, but in Coral Gables, crowded around a television in the bowels of Mark Light Field, the Hurricanes huddled together and lunged toward the screen in anticipation.
Solutions by The State News
