Patriot Talon

Softball ends season with school record 43 wins while advancing to the playoffs

Three more wins and the Patriots softball team were going to the NCAA World Series.
Unfortunately that dream fell short, despite playing right at home in the NCAA West Regional.

The Patriots opened the six-team, double-elimination tournament with a 3-1 loss to the University of LaVerne (Calif.), putting the Patriots in a must-win mode the rest of the way.

After a shocking first game loss, the Patriots responded with some quality wins over nationally ranked teams.

In their second game, the Patriots pulled out a 5-3 comeback victory over the University of the Redlands (Calif.), a game in which they trailed 3-1 in the sixth inning.

The next opponent for the Patriots was the defending national champions, Linfield College (Oregon).
After seven innings, both teams remained in a 2-2 tie going into the extra frames. After both teams scored a run in the eighth inning, the Patriots responded with three key runs in the top of the ninth.
Linfield tried to make one more comeback, but fell short as the Patriots held on to win 6-4, eliminating the defending national champions.

With that win, the Patriots set themselves up for a rematch with LaVerne, who defeated them earlier in the tournament.

This time around, the Patriots refused to let the same team beat them twice in one weekend as they squeaked out a 4-2 victory.

After a 30-minute break, the Patriots had to turn right around and play the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in another elimination game.

In the bottom of the first, the Patriots put a quick run on the board, but UMHB quickly answered with one in the second and two in the third to build a 3-1 lead.

After the Patriots made it 3-2, UMHB added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, putting the Patriots down three going into what turned out to be their final at bat’s of this record-setting season.
However, they were not about to just give up without a fight.

After a strikeout to begin the inning, Megan Richardson doubled to left field and scored on a single by Brittanni Hanna, making it 5-3.

Amanda Busby followed with another single, putting runners on first and second.
Both runners moved over one base each after the home plate umpire called an illegal pitch on UMHB.
With the tying run on second and one out, Courtney Carrizales and Kate Bell both struck out, ending the game, the season and the Patriots shot at the regional championship game.

“I thought the end of this last game was a representation of what we have done all year,” said coach Mike Reed. “We came back and just fought and fought and did not give up. I told the kids as long as they leave their heart out on the field and try their best, then we will live with it, no matter the result of the game.”

With the loss, the Patriots ended their season with a record of 43-9 and finished the year ranked No. 11 in the nation.

“What a special year this was,” Reed said. “When the girls get past the hurt of being eliminated, they will realize how special this season really was. This season was also a tribute to the seniors and what their leadership has brought to the team. We will take the experience from this tournament and take it on with us to the next season and go from there.”

UMHB went on to play Louisiana College in the championship round, needing two wins to advance to the world series. But it only took one game for the Lady Wildcats of Louisiana College to capture the regional championship as they advanced on to Virginia to compete for a national championship.
The Lady Wildcats won their first two games of the world series, but dropped the next two as they finished third in the NCAA World Series.

After the season was over, two more Patriots got to play in an exhibition game very few softball players receive in their lifetime.

Richardson and senior Lindsay Peters received an invitation to play for the American Softball Association regional All-Star team in Waco that faced the USA National Olympic Softball team.
The game was part of Team USAs “Bound 4 Beijing” tour, preparing themselves for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China next month.