By Sunday night, the Gators’ mental stamina matched the recent Gainesville weather: below average.
After a long weekend, coach Tim Walton has to get his team back up to 100 percent for its home opener against Jacksonville today at 5 p.m.
Florida played five games in the USF-Fairfield Inn Tampa North Tournament last weekend, winning every one. However, playing back-to-back games on both Saturday and Sunday took its toll on Walton’s squad.
“I don’t know if I had them motivated and focused to be honest,” Walton said Sunday. “It was really cold and a long day. We were out here for almost seven-and-a-half hours. [It] was really longer than it is probably supposed to be on the last game of the weekend.”
Sunday was an unusually long day for the Gators because the weather wasn’t very accommodating Friday night.
Florida was scheduled to face Long Island and Florida Gulf Coast on the first day of the tournament. However, umpires halted play in the fifth inning of the first game against Long Island due to incessant rain.
The Gators, who were just one run and one half-inning shy of closing out their first victory of the season, had to return to the stadium Saturday morning to finally win 8-0 against the Blackbirds. With a double-header scheduled Saturday evening, Florida had to re-schedule its matchup with FGCU for Sunday.
“With the rain the other night, and three games (Saturday), I think we were not so much fatigued but a little mentally exhausted,” Walton said.
Heading into Sunday already worn from a long weekend, the Gators faced their toughest test of the tournament at USF.
After Florida mercy ruled its first three opponents, it needed eight innings and two pitchers just to squeak out a 3-2 victory against the Bulls.
Sophomore Hannah Rogers came in for freshman Lauren Haeger in the sixth inning, knowing she would return to the circle soon after to face the Eagles. But Rogers wasn’t too worried about the physical aspect of pitching nine-plus innings in one day.
“My arm never really gets tired,” Rogers said. “My legs get tired sometimes, but we have a really good trainer and he makes sure that we’re always heating or icing or stretching our arms. That’s probably why I don’t have too many arm problems.”
However, Rogers could not shrug off the difficulty of getting mentally prepared for the last game after just having pitched and weathered the dipping temperatures. She said she had to motivate herself to go out and convince herself it was like pitching in any other game.
This Wednesday, the Gators will play host to the Dolphins on two days rest. Haeger, who started two of Florida’s first five games in the circle, has already felt the impact of the long weekend but said she looks to become accustomed to the hectic schedule as the year progresses.
“It was tiring,” Haeger said.
“Five games is a lot of games, but it doesn’t compare to what we’re going to get into. It was a long first weekend for all of us. Making it to Sunday was definitely a little bit of an adjustment, but I think it will get better.”
Florida starting pitcher Hannah Rogers said her arm didn’t suffer the same fatigue as the Gators’ minds did throughout a five-game weekend.
