First off, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome myself for the first time to The Bull Rush, as this is my first of many posts.
Now, while I watch the Masters and follow the USF Baseball game against Rutgers, I want to recap a day which I have deemed one of the greatest days in USF history. Four Bulls teams performed on campus on USF Day, which has been claimed annually for April 9 by former Tampa mayor Pam Iorio.
First, the USF Women's soccer team held their spring game, where they won 4-1 over some team wearing blue. These ladies seem to have a very good team put together, and their youth ensures that they have a chance to maintain consistent good seasons for years to come. I'm happy with their ball control and team communication, and I look forward to seeing them compete for a Big East championship again this season.
At the same time as the soccer game, the softball team was in the first game of their doubleheader with Georgetown, which they ended up sweeping (they won again today to complete the series sweep). Now I realize not as many people are avid fans of softball as are baseball or football, but make no mistake. These girls can play. They also are very young, and with an outstanding coach like Ken Ericksen they have a lot of potential to do something amazing in the next few years. With the victory today, they are currently on a 10-game winning streak, and Freshman Sara Nevins has lost a no-hitter with two outs left in the game on two straight starts. Do yourself a favor and go watch these girls.
Then came the main event: the first ever football game on the USF campus. The Bulls held their Green and Gold bowl in the soccer stadium, and the turnout looked great. Each quarterback started a bit slowly, but it wasn't long until B.J. Daniels began looking like good old B.J. again. True freshman QB Matt Floyd, who was a star last weekend, didn't look as sharp, throwing for only 75 yards. The defense, once again, looked great, showing speed at every position. My biggest concern for this team is the young offensive line, which is obviously a huge part of the team for a group trying to figure out their offense. I spent the day just hoping that our defensive line was just really, really good, but the OL needs to hold blocks longer and stronger. All in all though, there was nothing that could dull my excitement to see FOOTBALL ON CAMPUS. Hopefully this convinced Judy Genshaft to build an on-campus stadium (fingers crossed).
The one thing that did sort of kill my buzz was the lack of offense early in the USF baseball game against Rutgers combined with the poor pitching job by Kyle Eastham. Eastham ended up allowing 7 earned runs in 5 innings, while a late 7th-inning push by the Bulls was not even close to enough. The final score was 11-6 in favor of the Scarlet Knights, tying the series at 1 game each, so the team will have to wait a little longer to move to .500 on the season. Despite the thrashing from Rutgers's offense, there were at least two positives to take away from the game: Junior Carlin extended his hit streak to ten games, and Jimmy Falla had his tenth multi-hit game of the season.
Ultimately, the day was a complete success, and I'm already looking forward to April 9th of next year (which is on a Monday, so I assume they'll adjust the schedule accordingly). Until then, I'll be watching baseball, softball, and soccer fill my need for USF sports for the next 147 days until USF Football kicks off in South Bend (Can you say road trip?). For now, I'll go back to watching Tiger complete this unbelievable comeback in Augusta.
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