Riley Platt, Sports Editor April 18, 2022

It was a monumental week throughout the world of UNF athletics, but women’s basketball forward Jazz Bond brought national attention to the University when she was drafted in the WNBA Draft on Monday. 

Bond served as a leader for the team for years on end, with the hard work paying off when she became the first Osprey to be drafted into the NBA or WNBA. Bond was selected in the third round by the Dallas Wings and will look to make an immediate impact with her new team this season.

Another milestone was reached with head baseball coach Tim Parenton picking up his 100th career win with the Ospreys over the weekend.

This came to fruition in a series win against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, but it wasn’t easy. The series got off to a rocky start for the Ospreys, dropping Thursday’s opener 9-2. The squad bounced back, though, taking both games on Saturday by a combined eight runs. 

Baseball returns to action at Harmon Stadium on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m., facing the Citadel Bulldogs. Hot dogs will be sold for just a dollar each, so swing by the ballpark for a good time with cheap eats!

Traveling back to campus, softball continued their winning ways over the weekend against the Kennesaw State Owls. The Ospreys were in search of their third consecutive series sweep of a conference opponent. They pulled through, but it didn’t come without some fireworks.

UNF got off to a great start, taking Friday’s first game 4-1. They also led late in the latter half of the doubleheader, but a late offensive explosion from the Owls tied things up and sent the game into extra innings.

Blowing a lead is never ideal, but it didn’t come back to haunt the Ospreys. Hayley Bejarano played hero, delivering her second walk-off hit of the season to score the winning run in the eighth inning. 

Get another angle from the final play to win No. 34🙌@HayleyBejarano // #BirdsofClay pic.twitter.com/wRgZHWcrXy

— UNF Softball (@OspreySB) April 16, 2022

Following Friday’s excitement, there was still one more game standing in between the UNF softball squad and their third sweep in a row. A joint effort by pitchers Halle Arends and Morgan Clausen locked down the KSU offense, leading UNF to a 5-2 win to complete the sweep. 

Softball now sits at 35-11 on the season, looking bound to make a deep run in the ASUN tournament. A strong finish over the next couple of weeks will be critical to enabling this, though. They will be back in action on Wednesday in a road doubleheader against the Eagles of Georgia Southern University. 

In a week full of hard work paying off, there was yet another prime example of this found within the UNF volleyball program. Following a wildly successful 2021 campaign, head coach Kristen Wright was granted a contract extension through 2024. 

The Ospreys went 25-8 last season, making a run to the quarterfinals of the NIVC Tournament before falling to the UConn Huskies. With Coach Wright behind the reins, it’s safe to assume that the program will only continue to rise in the near future.

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