Bait & Bits: Spring Practice Personnel, Rowdy Reptiles Video, Five #1 Teams, and Alaina Johnson’s Accolades
By Brett Kaplan
February 12, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators student section, Rowdy Reptiles, cheer and do a dance against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: ©Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to Bait & Bits, a series on Hail Florida Hail that will feature one “bait” about an opposing school and some bits about the Gators. Have any links that you want on Bait & Bits? Tweet it at us @HailFloridaHail or @BrettKaplan13 or email it to us at BrettKaplanHFH@gmail.com.
Bait
Mercer Bears Softball. The Mercer softball team comes in with a respectable 17-7 record. The Bears and Gators have only played twice, another doubleheader in 2008 which Florida swept. But the real problem Mercer has is facing a dominant Florida team. The Gators have scored 193 runs while allowing only 29. As a team, Florida bats .325 for the season. Opponents are hitting a paltry .165. Their defense has also been great so far as they have a .984 fielding percentage. So the best bet for the Bears to avoid a similar result to ’08 would be to get the Gators out of their game.
Bits
Personnel Issues for Spring Practice. Football head coach Will Muschamp spoke with the media yesterday and something that became prevalent was personnel issues. Bryan Holt with Inside The Gators takes a look at which players are hurt and who will be playing a different position next season. (Bryan Holt, Inside The Gators)
Rowdy Reptiles Flash Mob.
If you haven’t seen the flash mob the Rowdy Reptiles did during a timeout from Saturday’s Florida-Kentucky game, then your wish will be granted. All though it’s been overplayed and frankly I don’ t like the song, it’s Kesha and Pitbull’s “Timber”.
Softball Still No. 1; 5 Teams at No. 1.
Despite dropping the opening game of the weekend series with Ole Miss, Florida’s softball team
maintained their status as the number one team in college softball
. Florida still has five teams ranked number one: Men’s basketball, softball, men’s swimming & diving, and both the men’s and women’s track & field teams. And the gymnastics team is ranked second, but should be the top-ranked team after scoring the nation’s season-high total. Pretty impressive. No other school can come close to matching UF’s rankings. (
)
Gymnastics Alaina Johnson Collects Accolades. After some trials and tribulations, Alaina Johnson really came on last week against West Virginia on Senior Night. She posted an all-around score 39.825 which is the best in the country. Her performance this past week was good enough to get her the SEC Gymnast of the Week honor. On top of that, Johnson was named a finalist, one of six, for the AAI Award, given to the top senior student-athlete in NCAA Division I women’s gymnastics. She’s a 10-time All-American who’s very worthy of these accolades. Congratulations to Alaina. (GatorZone)
Today’s Schedule. For your tracking pleasure:
Men’s Swimming & Diving @ NCAA Diving Zone Championships
Women’s Swimming & Diving @ NCAA Diving Zone Championships
4:00pm Softball Mercer
6:30pm Softball Mercer
6:30pm Lacrosse Winthrop
7:00pm Baseball Illinois State
If you’re in Gainesville, there are certainly plenty of opportunities to see the Gators in action this Wednesday night. Go Gators!
For more on the Gators make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@HailFloridaHail and @BrettKaplan13).