Softball Stars Return to Center Stage as Mr. Two Bits
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 | Softball
At first, she declined. Not her personality, she said.
Hannah Rogers, believe it or not, has never liked to be the center of attention.
That's pretty interesting considering how she mowed down batter after batter while ESPN cameras spotlighted her during Florida's run to the Women's College World Series championship just four months ago.
“Well, I've been pitching all my life, so that was easy,” Rogers said Tuesday. “This is different.”
Dominating reigning SEC champion Alabama while 2.2 million viewers tuned in on TV was just another day at the ball yard for the runaway 2014 WCWS Most Valuable Player. But the idea of leading UF's iconic cheer before Saturday night's Southeastern Conference clash with LSU at “The Swamp” had a little different feel to it.
And that's why this week's honorary “Mr. Two Bits” will have a different look.
Can you say “Miss Two Bits” ... times two.
Teaming with Rogers, the first female celebrity to take on the role made famous by George Edmondson, will be sister softball superstar Stacey Nelson, who in 2008 led the Gators to the program's first WCWS berth and remains the program's all-time leader in wins (136), ERA (0.99) and strikeouts (1,116).
And don't be surprised if the entire 2014 national championship squad, which will be honored during the game, isn't out there surrounding Rogers and, in essence, putting her right back in a kind of high-profile circle from which she's been known to perform spectacularly.
Rogers went 30-8 with a 1.60 ERA her senior year, then went virtually unhittable in NCAA Tournament play, going 7-0 with a 0.60 ERA, seven complete games, six shutouts and the title-clinching save in the WCWS finals over rival and 2012 champion 'Bama.
“As someone who was a pitcher and a Florida Gator, I loved the way she represented our school and the program,” said Nelson, who last spring graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and in July was Rogers' guest at the ESPY's when she was accepted the Capital One Cup award on behalf of UF for the nation's most outstanding women's overall program. “I'm a huge Hannah Rogers fan.”
Nelson is also a huge “Mr. Two Bits” fan -- a self-proclaimed “Two Bits dork,” she said -- and cannot wait to don the outfit. During her time as a student, Nelson loved watching the spry old man do his cheer during football and was thrilled to once meet him on the sidelines before a game.
“The whole story of how he started doing the cheer when the team wasn't doing well and people were picking on the Gators ... ,” she said. “That shows how much he cared.”
The same can be said about Nelson. One the most decorated female athletes in UF history, she'll have the back of Rogers, who virtually overnight became one of the most famous and most dominant champions -- male or female -- in UF history.
“With someone else out there with me, that'll help,” Rogers said. “Once I get out there and get ready to do it, I'll be fine.”
Everybody in the stadium will be.
