The No. 4-seed Florida softball team takes on No. 13-seed Oregon this weekend in a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional beginning Friday at 2 p.m.
How will heat affect the Gainesville Super Regional? Oregon will be facing temperatures close to 40 degrees warmer than what they are leaving behind in Eugene, Ore.
"I kind of saw [the midday start times], and was like, 'Dang,' but I guess it's kind of good because they're not going to be used to it," Stephanie Brombacher said.
UCLA pitcher Donna Kerr tired quickly during Sunday's games, resulting in a .1 inning-appearance in the deciding Game 7 after one-hitting Florida in Game 6. Gators coach Tim Walton also suggested the heat was one of the reasons Hannah Rogers was struggling with her typically dominant drop-ball.
Will UF continue its small-ball transformation? The Gators stole 21 bases — encouraging base runners to hurl imaginary grenades toward the UF dugout in celebration — against now infamously inept UCLA third-string catcher Grace Murray. Florida has put a renewed emphasis on bunting and short game over the past month. In the circle, Oregon has ace Jessica Moore, who has picked up 24 wins and a 1.59 ERA but also walked 93 batters. Grenades should get plenty of air time against Ducks catcher Alexa Peterson, who has thrown out just 17.4 percent of runners this season.
Can Cheyenne Coyle continue to dominate? The freshman is batting .600 with two homers, six RBIs, three walks and four steals this postseason. Walton joked he might move Coyle into Brittany Schutte's clean-up spot after she swapped places in the lineup with Tiffany DeFelice on Sunday. The senior catcher said her freshman shortstop "is on fire" and "completely deserves" the batting order nod.
"That kid is hitting bombs," DeFelice said. "She's hitting singles. She's doing whatever she needs to do to get on base."
Coming off a pair of runner-up finishes at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, the second-ranked men's and No. 19 women's track teams begin their quest to qualify for the NCAA Championships today at noon during the three-day NCAA East Preliminary Rounds held in Bloomington, Ind.
How many athletes will the Gators send to the NCAA Championships? Florida fell one point short of an outdoor title last year to a Texas A&M team that qualified three more men's athletes than UF. This season, the Gators have a chance to improve on their qualifying numbers with 27 men competing, compared to just 19 in 2010. "I felt like last year, in the first day, we kind of got caught by surprise, even though it went OK for us," UF coach Mike Holloway said. "We didn't expect the intensity to be what it was, but we won't be caught off guard this year."
Can the women's team continue its hot streak? Even though the Gators have struggled through the indoor and much of the outdoor season, Holloway said their second-place finish at SECs was no fluke. With 22 athletes at prelims, Florida will look to distance runner Genevieve LaCaze, who captured her first SEC title in the steeplechase two weeks ago, for leadership. "Obviously, after indoor we were really disappointed; like, we don't come fifth," she said. "We really have pulled it together. We had a lot of individual meetings set aside from the boys, just so we could regather our side of the team."
Will each piece of Florida's triple jump trio qualify for a trip to Des Moines, Iowa? After Will Claye, Omar Craddock and Christian Taylor almost swept the men's triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships in February with a 1-2-5 finish, the group will look to attempt a second run at the feat by snagging three of the top-12 qualifying marks this weekend. Claye, who was named the SEC Athlete of the Year, and Taylor are ranked first and second in the nation in the triple jump, while Craddock comes in at sixth. "Everybody's just trying to qualify, cause it's different from indoors, you just can't hit an auto-mark," Claye said. "So we're trying to get everything right and go out there and get some big marks, hopefully make it to nationals."
Florida's trip out west for the NCAA Championships continues this week with singles and doubles play in Palo Alto, Calif. Both the men's and the women's team will be represented at Taube Stadium Wednesday through Monday.
Can Alexandre Lacroix continue his dominant career at Florida? The Gators men's tennis team isn't quite done yet for the 2011 campaign, as their top doubles pair of Alexandre Lacroix and Sekou Bangoura Jr. will be competing in the NCAA Doubles Championship beginning today. They will take on California's pairing of Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt.
Will the women experience a hangover in singles play after a high-intensity win in team play? The women's tennis team claimed its fifth national team championship Tuesday with a win over Stanford, but Florida will also be represented in the doubles tournament. The Gators' top pairing of Allie Will and Alex Cercone earned the No. 2 overall seed in the doubles draw and will face Virginia's pairing of Lindsey Hardenbergh and Erin Vierra today.
After a disappointing showing in the team format, can the men bounce back? Lacroix, who will be looking to add to his school record wins total, and Bangoura will represent the men's team in singles play. Will, Cercone, Joanna Mather, Lauren Embree and Olivia Janowicz will represent the women's team. The Round of 64 was held Wednesday but results were not available at the time of press. You can follow the Gators who advance in the tournament at alligatorSports.org and ncaa.com.
