Eagles’ dream season comes to an end in Utah

ST. GEORGE, Utah (May 15, 2014) – Tallahassee Community College's remarkable 2014 season came to an abrupt end on Thursday when the Eagles lost to Seminole (Okla.) State College, 2-0, in loser's bracket play at the NJCAA Division I Softball National Championship. 

The loss eliminated the No. 3 seed Eagles from the tournament. 

After being shut out only twice in 51 games prior to the national tournament, Tallahassee failed to score a run over 14 innings of action at the Canyons Complex. 

As they did in Wednesday's 1-0 loss to San Jacinto (Texas) College-South, the Eagles had their chances on Thursday against the 11^th-seeded Trojans. 

Tallahassee had base runners in every inning and outhit Seminole state, 9-4, but the timely hit escaped the Eagles, who were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position (2-for-21 in the tournament) and stranded 12 runners for the game. 

The first big opportunity came in the fourth. 

After Alexis Huss led off the inning with a double, walks to Brenda Santana and Brianna Murillo loaded the bases. But two ground balls resulted in force outs at home and Taesha DuBoise popped up to short to end the inning. 

Tallahassee loaded the bases again in the sixth, this time with one out, but another grounder forced Murillo out at home and Danielle Patterson grounded to short for the third out. 

The Eagles had one last chance in the seventh and put the tying runs on with one out, but consecutive ground outs ended the game and Tallahassee's season. 

In defeat, Mariah Rivera (21-6) went the distance in the circle for Tallahassee, allowing only four hits. 

Seminole State's runs came in the third and fourth innings. 

Ashley Heath-Smith continued her torrid pace at the plate, going 3-for-4 to lead the Eagles' 12-hit attack. Heath-Smith, who was 2-for-3 in the loss to San Jacinto, ended the season on a 12-game hitting streak and batted .571 (20-for-35) in the postseason. 

Huss was 2-for-4.

Tallahassee's 2014 season ends at 41-14.