TCC Eagle Flashback: May 4, 2008
From TCCeagles.com, May 4, 2008
TCC Softball wins NJCAA Gulf District Championship
AUBURNDALE, Fla. (May 4, 2008) - Call 'em Drama Queens. Call 'em the Comeback Kids. Call 'em the Cardiac Eagles. All of the above apply to the 2008 Tallahassee Community College softball team. Now, following a postseason run for the ages, you can also call the 2008 Eagles NJCAA Gulf District Champions.
Down to its last three outs and trailing Pensacola Junior College, 6-2, TCC scored four seventh-inning runs to send Sunday's NJCAA Gulf District Championship Game to extra innings. With the game still knotted at six-all, Laura Meaut's RBI single in the top of the eleventh scored Heather Mauldin with what proved to be the game-winning run as TCC defeated Pensacola, 7-6, to claim the title and a berth in the NJCAA Division I Fast Pitch Championships.
TCC later fell to NJCAA No. 1/FCCAA No. 1 Santa Fe Community College, winners of the NJCAA Atlantic District Championship, 8-4, for the overall FCCAA title.
Having already claimed the championship that mattered most, the loss to Santa Fe did little to temper the emotions of TCC head coach Patti Townsend.
"They're amazing," said Townsend of her 12-player roster. "I've never seen anything like it – the heart, the determination, the will power – I've never seen a team work so closely together."
TCC won the FCCAA and NJCAA Championships while playing in the NJCAA's slow pitch softball division in 1994. Prior to Sunday, however, the Eagles' best finish during their NJCAA Fast Pitch softball era came in 2002, when they brought home a runners-up trophy.
The Eagles, whose season was on the brink of extinction repeatedly during the final two days of play at the Auburndale Softball Complex, won five consecutive elimination games, culminating with Sunday's doubleheader sweep of Pensacola.
TCC won Sunday's first game, 7-4, to force a second and decisive game against its Panhandle Conference rival.
Left with no alternative but to win, the Eagles did just that. Not once, not twice but five times.
After losing to Hillsborough Community College in Friday's second game, TCC knew it would face elimination each time it took the field. The Eagles thrived on the pressure, a fact that surprised Townsend little, if any.
"They were confident," Townsend noted. "They wanted to win, and they had it in their minds that they would not lose."
TCC squeezed out a 1-0 victory over Polk Community College in its first game on Saturday. The Eagles followed that with a pair of wins in their last at-bat.
First, the Eagles ousted defending NJCAA champion and arch rival Chipola College with a 3-2, 10-inning victory. TCC then avenged its earlier loss to Hillsborough with a 6-5, 9-inning triumph. In both games, the Eagles scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
With momentum on the Eagles' side, Townsend hoped that would offset the fact that Pensacola only took the field once on Saturday and had played but three games through the tournament's first two days.
"They (the players) could sense that it (the championship) was within their grasp," added Townsend, who was named NJCAA Gulf District Coach of the Year. "There was a calm confidence about them."
TCC's gutsy performance certainly backed up her logic.
After winning Sunday's first game in businesslike fashion, the Eagles drew first blood in the winner-take-all finale.
A two-run, third-inning homer by Mary Helen Tyler put the Eagles ahead 2-0. That lead, however, was short-lived.
A TCC error allowed leadoff batter Whitney Ward to reach safely in the Pirates' half of the third. Pensacola capitalized on the miscue, sending ten batters to the plate in the inning against the Eagles' Amanda Reyes and Morgan O'Keefe. Pensacola roughed up the duo for six runs on five hits, including a two-run double by Daniela DeOliviera.
TCC threatened in each of the next three innings but Pensacola's Tyler Easterling worked herself out of trouble each time, forcing the Eagles to strand a pair of runners in each frame. Three outs from the championship, Pensacola called upon Julianne Beaugh, the losing pitcher in game one. Before Beaugh recorded an out, however, the Eagles had tied the game.
After Mauldin and Tyler started the rally with consecutive singles, Meaut brought everyone home when she drilled a three-run home run, cutting the Pirates' lead to 7-6.
Meaut went 3-for-6 with four RBI in game two and was one of seven players named to the NJCAA Gulf District All-Tournament Team.
Alayshia Jarrell continued the rally, reaching on an error. After a wild pitch sent courtesy runner Briana Leverett into scoring position, O'Keefe hit a ground rule double to tie the game at six.
TCC went down relatively easy over the next three innings – only Hilary Carver reached base, singling with two outs in the tenth. Pensacola, meanwhile, came agonizingly close to winning the game on two separate occasions.
Reyes, who reentered the game with two outs in the sixth, pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth. An inning later, two walks and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Pensacola again failed to deliver as Reyes got consecutive fly outs to extend the Eagles' season.
Reyes (16-15) worked 32.2 innings during the three-day tournament, earning five of TCC's six victories and a spot on both the NJCAA Gulf District and FCCAA All-Tournament teams. Her final two innings were arguably her best of the entire weekend.
She sat the Pirates down in order in both the tenth and eleventh, inducing Krystan Mahowald into a game-ending groundout that set off a jubilant celebration, both on the field and in the stands.
Reyes' efforts were one of many that left Townsend searching for words.
"We've been through a lot this season, but we finally put it all together," Townsend said. "All of the hard work paid off."
The game two excitement was made possible by a solid outing in Sunday's first contest.
After falling behind 2-0, the Eagles plated three runs in the bottom of the third.
A pair of walks sandwiched around an infield single loaded the bases. Mauldin and Tyler collected back-to-back singles to tie the game. Meaut's sacrifice fly brought Becky Smith home to give TCC a 3-2 lead.
Pensacola tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth before the Eagles' bats came alive again.
Smith broke the 3-3 tie with a single, scoring Carver. Later in the inning, TCC loaded the bases for Tyler, who delivered a bases-clearing double.
Tyler, one of five players to earn a spot on both the NJCAA Gulf District and FCCAA All-Tournament teams, went 5-for-9 in Sunday's games against Pensacola, scoring twice and driving in six runs.
O'Keefe pitched the final three innings of game one to earn her second save of the tournament.
"Getting the first win (over Pensacola) was huge," said Townsend.
Joining Meaut, Reyes and Tyler on the NJCAA Gulf District All-Tournament team were Mauldin, O'Keefe, Smith and Lela Land.
Tyler, Mauldin, Smith, O'Keefe and Reyes were selected to the FCCAA All-Tournament team.
TCC now awaits a seeding in the 16-team NJCAA Division I Fast Pitch Championships, which takes place in Plant City, Fla., May 15-17.
For more information on the Eagles' NJCAA Gulf District Championship and its pending trip to the NJCAA Division I Fast Pitch Championships, log on to www.TCCeagles.com.