TCC Athletics’ Top 10 of the ‘10s: Part 2 of 2
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (December 31, 2019) - As the 2010s draw to a close, Tallahassee Community College looks back at its top athletics highlights of the past decade.
On December 30 and 31, TCC Athletics is unveiling its "Top 10 of the '10s" on TCCeagles.com, a list that will relive the most outstanding individual and team accomplishments, as well as unique moments that highlight the Eagles' success.
Nos. 10-6 were revealed Monday, December 30. Today, we take a look at the Eagles' top five highlights from the 2010s, some honorable mention highlights and a first look ahead to the 2020s.
TCC Athletics' Top 10 of the 10s
5. Softball ends PC, FCSAA Championship droughts (2014)
Despite having advanced to the NJCAA Tournament in 2008 and 2011, there were still some items for Patti Townsend's Eagles to check off the "to do" list – namely, win the Panhandle Conference and FCSAA State Championships. Tallahassee accomplished both during a dominant 2014 campaign.
The Eagles tore through the Panhandle Conference schedule, winning 15 of their first 16 games, and on April 12, a 7-1, game two win at Gulf Coast State clinched their first PC Championship since 1998. Freshman Mariah Rivera was tabbed the PC Pitcher of the Year while Townsend garnered her first PC Coach of the Year award. With a 34-11 record, the Eagles ended the regular season as the No. 1 team in Florida and boasted a No. 5 NJCAA ranking.
Originally published April 12, 2014
What the regular season may have lacked in drama was offset by a pressure-packed three days at the FCSAA State Tournament. After dropping their opening game to Hillsborough, the heavily-favored Eagles suddenly faced elimination. One game at a time, Tallahassee slowly dug itself out of the loser's bracket. A last at-bat win over State College of Florida kept the season alive then the Eagles won three games on day two – eliminating St. Petersburg, Gulf Coast State and Chipola – to advance to the championship round, where it still needed two wins against Polk State. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Alexis Huss' three-run homer sent the Eagles to a 4-2 win, thus forcing the "if" game where she hit another three-run bomb. Tallahassee completed the comeback with a 5-2 victory to capture the FCSAA's Gulf District Championship and a berth to the NJCAA Tournament in St. George, Utah.
There was one final game, however – the FCSAA State Championship Game against Central Florida. After falling short in its bid for a state title in both 2008 and 2011, Tallahassee rode the momentum from the Polk State victories to a 4-1 win – its sixth in a little more than 24 hours – and its first state championship since 1994. Outfielder Te Reo Powhiri Matautia was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and Townsend was awarded FCSAA Coach of the Year.
Originally published May 5, 2014
4. Bernard James selected in NBA Draft (2012)
"With the 33rd pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select Bernard James from Florida State University," said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver on the evening of June 28, 2012. With those words, James' unlikely journey from high school dropout to military policeman to NBA draft pick, a story that includes a decorated two-year career at Tallahassee Community College, was complete. Although not invited to the NBA Draft Green Room, James flew to Newark, N.J., for the event and was accompanied by seven family members. When his name was called, he took his rightful place on the stage next to Silver, the future NBA Commissioner.
Before the evening was over, however, James, who was the third pick of the second round, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. He was the first former TCC Eagle to be selected in the NBA Draft.
A native of Savannah, Ga., James suited up for coach Eddie Barnes' Eagles from 2008-10. As a freshman, he averaged 12.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in 21 contests. He averaged a double-double as a sophomore, 14.2 points and 10.5 rebounds in 31 games.
James, who made his NBA Debut on October 31, 2012, against the Utah Jazz, spent parts of three seasons (2012-15) with the Mavericks and averaged 2.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 92 career regular season games.
Originally published June 28, 2012
3. Softball wins Gulf District, finishes 3rd in NJCAA Tournament (2011)
Three years earlier, Tallahassee won the FCSAA Gulf District Tournament as the No. 4 seed from the Panhandle Conference and advanced to the NJCAA Tournament. Patti Townsend's Eagles used the exact same script to deliver another magical postseason in 2011.
A 6-0 win over Suncoast Conference Champion Polk State in the opening round of the FCSAA Gulf District Tournament propelled the underdog Eagles into the winner's bracket. There, Tallahassee knocked off Panhandle Conference rival Northwest Florida State, beat Hillsborough in the winner's bracket final then shut out Polk State for the second time, 2-0, to win the tournament and advance to the NJCAA Tournament in St. George, Utah.
Tallahassee only trailed once en route to sweeping its four games by a combined score of 18-3.
Originally published May 1, 2011
The Eagles' incredible postseason continued in Utah, where they brought home the third-place trophy. That's right, No. 3 in the country after finishing No. 4 in the Panhandle Conference.
In the opening round game against Butler, Xia Wilson's walk-off single scored the winning run in a 3-2, eight-inning victory, advancing the Eagles into the winner's bracket. Next, they knocked off Miami Dade, 4-0, avenging a loss to the Sharks in the FCSAA State Championship Game just 19 days earlier.
Up next was top-ranked, No. 1 seed and eventual national champion Yavapai in the winner's bracket semifinals. Tallahassee gave the Roughriders all they could handle before yielding a pair of sixth-inning runs in a 2-0 loss to fall into the loser's bracket. The Eagles stayed alive with a 5-1 win over Darton and were among the quartet of teams to advance to the final day of tournament.
Tallahassee survived a late-game rally to eliminate No. 3 seed Blinn in the third place game before finally running out of gas in an 8-0 loss to Salt Lake.
Originally published May 21, 2011
2. The Decade of Lorenzo Cain
Lorenzo Cain began and ended the 2010s in the same place – as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. In between, however, was a seven-year stint with the Kansas City Royals, one that made Cain a household name and sent him soaring to the upper echelon of MLB outfielders.
Cain played at Tallahassee Community College in 2005 then signed with the Brewers, who held his draft rights from the previous year. After spending parts of six seasons in the minors, Cain made his Major League debut on July 16, 2010, and played in 43 games. Following the season, he was traded to Kansas City, where he became part of a core group that led the Royals to consecutive World Series appearances.
The 2014 campaign was a breakout season for Cain – he batted .301 with five home runs, 53 RBI and 28 stolen bases – and the Royals, who made the MLB playoffs for the first time since 1985 as one of the American League Wild Card entries. Kansas City beat Oakland, 1-0, in the Wild Card Game, then swept the Los Angeles Angels in three games to advance to the ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles. In a four-game sweep of Baltimore, Cain's talents were on full display – a .533 batting average, eight hits, five runs and numerous spectacular defensive plays – and he took home ALCS Most Valuable Player honors. He likely would have been the World Series MVP had Kansas City won Game 7 against the San Francisco Giants. Nevertheless, Lorenzo Cain had arrived.
The following season, he was voted to start the MLB All-Star Game and promptly collected a pair of hits. For the season, he hit .307 with 16 home runs, 72 RBI and 28 stolen bases, good for a third-place finish in the American League MVP voting. As for the Royals, they returned to the postseason, this time as AL Central champions but faced a much more difficult road to the World Series – first, they were pushed to a five-game series against the upstart Houston Astros in the ALDS then needed six games to knock out the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. Cain scored the winning run in game six, a play that was immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated the following week.
Making his second straight appearance in the Fall Classic, Cain picked up five more hits, including a bases-clearing double in the 12th inning of game five that all but sealed the Royals' first World Series title in 30 years. Cain played two more seasons in Kansas City before returning to Milwaukee as a free agent prior to the 2018 campaign.
In his return to the Brewers, Cain played in his second All-Star Game in 2018, this time as a member of the National League squad, delivered the game-winning hit in "Game 163" against the Chicago Cubs to give Milwaukee the NL Central title and helped the Brewers come within one game of a trip to the World Series. In 2019, after a near-decade long highlight reel of defensive gems, Cain received his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award and was named the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year in centerfield for the fourth time.
1. National Champions! (2018)
When director of athletics Rob Chaney was searching for a new a women's basketball coach in 2013, his belief was the right hire could deliver a national championship within five years. After Franqua "Q" Bedell interviewed for the job, he mailed Chaney a note, promising to hang banners, if hired. Bedell eventually got the job and exactly five years later, he delivered on his promise, guiding Tallahassee Community College to the 2018 NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. It was the program's first national title and the College's first in any sport since softball won it all in 1994.
How the Eagles won the crown is the stuff of legend – five games in five days, with the final three coming against a pair of Panhandle Conference rivals and the bluest of NJCAA Blue Bloods.
The 2018 tournament was not only an opportunity for history, but redemption. The Eagles made the tournament in 2017 – their first appearance in 16 seasons – and were poised to make a deep run until a bizarre series of events in the final minute of their tourney opener resulted in an upset loss to Shelton State. When they were awarded the No. 11 seed as an at-large entry in 2018, the return to Lubbock was immediately labeled a "business trip."
Tallahassee pulled away late to fend off No. 22 seed Western Nebraska, 97-85, in the opening round, then survived No. 6 seed Wabash Valley, 75-69, to move into the quarterfinals, where it faced Northwest Florida State for the fifth and final time. The Eagles beat the Raiders twice in the final week of the regular season – the first win eventually forced a one-game playoff for the Panhandle's No. 2 seed in the FCSAA Tournament, which Tallahassee also won. The rubber match was a defensive slugfest, one the Eagles survived, 55-52. Tallahassee's reward was a fourth meeting against two-time defending national champion Gulf Coast State in the national semifinals.
The Commodores swept three games from Tallahassee during the regular season, but the Eagles won the one that mattered most, a 78-68 victory to move into the National Championship Game opposite eight-time champion Trinity Valley.
Despite playing in their first-ever championship game (Trinity Valley was in the finals for the sixth time in seven years), the moment never seemed too big for Bedell's Eagles. After the game was tied at the half, Tallahassee closed the third quarter on a 12-2 run to seize control and gradually pulled away in the final ten minutes, leading by as many as 20, en route to the 69-51 win.
Japonica James, Jamyra McChristine and Nakiah Black were named to the All-Tournament Team while Bedell was named the Coach of the Tournament and later received Spalding NJCAA Coach of the Year honors.
Upon returning to Tallahassee, the celebration commenced as the team bus pulled onto campus, continued with numerous recognitions from college, city and county officials, and hit a crescendo on August 8 when the College presented the team with its championship rings and unveiled the National Championship banner.
Originally published March 24, 2018
Honorable Mentions
- Record breakers
- March 8, 2017 – Lawriell Wilson (women's basketball) tied the school's single-game scoring record of 39 points and surpassed Syreeta Bromfield to become the school's all-time leading scorer in the Eagles' 97-86 win over Palm Beach State at the FCSAA State Tournament
- March 23, 2018 – Japonica James (women's basketball) passed Lawriell Wilson to become the school's all-time leading scorer in the Eagles' 78-68 win over Gulf Coast State in the national semifinals. James already had a share of the single-game scoring record, pouring in 39 against Pensacola State as a freshman
- November 28, 2018 – Richard Washington (men's basketball) scored 45 points and hit 10 three-pointers against Andrew, eclipsing both marks set by Tre Todd a little less than two years prior
- October 11, 2019 – Genevieve Printiss (women's cross country) broke the school record in the 5K, posting a 20:04.5 at the FSU Invitational. The performance garnered Printiss NJCAA Runner of the Week honors
- Memorable Games
- April 30, 2010 – Morgan Grove (softball) pitches a perfect game in Tallahassee's 8-0 win over South Florida State in the FCSAA State Tournament
- May 11, 2014 – The night before, a rain delay suspended the Eagles' elimination game in the FCSAA State Baseball Tournament against Chipola after one inning. As a result, Tallahassee was forced to resume play at 8 a.m. The Eagles won, 2-1, got a 30-minute break then knocked out St. Johns River State, 11-5, completing a sweep of the state's top two teams.
- February 22, 2016 – Nick Marchese (baseball) throws a no-hitter in the Eagles' 13-0 win over the Thomas University JV
- March 2, 2016 – Tallahassee storms back from a 21-point, second-half deficit to stun NJCAA No. 4 Eastern Florida State, 76-67, in the quarterfinals of the FCSAA Men's Basketball State Tournament
- January 10, 2017 – in a battle of nationally-ranked women's basketball teams, #11 Tallahassee upsets #1 Gulf Coast State, 89-78
- March 4, 2019 – Trey Moore (baseball) and Chase Forester combine on a no-hitter in the Eagles' 2-0 win over Grand Rapids
- Academic All-Stars
- Success in the classroom continued to be a staple for the Eagles between 2010 and 2019. They produced 49 NJCAA All-Academic honorees, 196 representatives on the FCSAA All-Academic Team and 318 on the Panhandle Conference All-Academic Team.
- Former cross country runner Ashley Maxwell was the student speaker at the College's 2019 Commencement Ceremony, the first student-athlete to receive the honor.
Looking ahead to the 2020s
It's never too early to start thinking about what highlights may dot the next ten years. Here are some sure bets to make the list in 2029:
- Head baseball coach Mike McLeod will enter the 2020 season just 16 wins shy of 1,000 for his career
- Former softball standout Elisa Cecchetti is slated to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a member of the Italian National Softball Team
- The Eagles will celebrate their 30th year as a member of the NJCAA in 2020-21