Don't Stop Believing

No matter what happens Monday at the NCAA Division III Softball World Series, the 2010 ETBU Tigers have put their names in the history books.

By all accounts the Tigers have become the darlings of Eau Claire, the little engine that could, this year's team of destiny. It could all end, of course, still, as the Tigers have one more win to get in 2010 to claim ETBU's first NCAA national championship. But no one will ever forget the Tigers' first trip to the World Series.

If you are a Tiger fan you have to like the vibe coming out of Eau Claire. There are those moments in sports when a team can just "feel it," or as a lot of athletes like to say, can "smell it." ETBU has that look. You cannot explain it, it's just there.

How else do you explain Lauryn McCurry? Here is a young freshman who started most of the second half of the regular season at first base but has been in a slump that saw her drop to the ninth spot in the batting order and eventually out of the starting lineup altogether entering the NCAA Tournament.

Since the start of the NFCA Leadoff Classic back in March, Lauryn had started 31 games while playing in 39. Over that time she was hitting just .250, with 18 hits in 72 at-bats. None of those hits had gone for extra bases -- 18 singles since March.

She hadn't been in the starting lineup since the ASC Tournament on April 30, as Coach Janae Shirley had gone with Brooke Martin at first base and a combination of Shelbee Young and Ashton Brey in right. That strategy had worked wonders through the first eight games of the NCAA Tournament for ETBU, going into Sunday.

But Janae had a hunch, I guess, against Linfield. She inserted Lauryn back into the starting lineup Sunday, with Martin moving back to right. And as fate would have it, there was McCurry in the batter's box in the most crucial moment of the championship tournament for ETBU to this point.

It had the makings of a grand slam. I mean, what else would you have expected from what this team has given us over the last week?

Whoever comes out of the elimination bracket Monday will be a tough opponent for the Tigers. The thing that scares you most as the team in the winner's bracket is that the team you face is going to be coming at you with some momentum after a win or two, and they are going to have the underdog role. Can't say they have nothing to lose, but...the pressure will be on ETBU to win Monday. You don't want this to go into Tuesday if you are a Tiger.

One more to go. ETBU could be NCAA national champions Monday night. What a way to end the year. What a way to kick-start the summer.

Can you smell it?

Go Tigers!