A Little Taste Of Magic

I've heard the terms "team of destiny," "fate" and just plain "outstanding" heard to describe what ETBU's Tiger Softball team accomplished on Monday with its 2-0 win over conference rival Louisiana College in the regional championship game.

Whether you believe in any of those terms is up to you. I would say personally it's just magic.

The Tigers shucked off all kinds of gorillas from their collective backs Monday, and the reward is the program's first-ever bid to the World Series (by the way, the NCAA officially calls it NCAA Division III Softball Championship, but it's a lot easier and quicker to just type and say World Series).

The biggest gorilla was the notion that ETBU couldn't beat LC on its home field. Granted, the Lady Wildcats have an outstanding tradition and were the first to break into the World Series from the ASC a couple of years ago. And, they'd whipped ETBU 12 straight times at Coca Cola Field going into Sunday.

It looked like No. 13 was going to be unlucky again for the Tigers Sunday, when LC staked ace Rene Schwartzenburg -- who had never lost a game to the Tigers in seven career decisions -- with a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning. But somehow the Tigers mustered up three unearned runs and edged to the 3-2 win.

Magic.

Then on Monday, an errant throw allowed the only two runs of the day to score for ETBU, a play the Lady Wildcats have made a million times. Tiger pitchers Ayrika Henderson and Alicia Wright made it stand up.

Magic.

Two days earlier, a strike away from eliminating another rival, UT Tyler, the Tigers watched as some defensive miscues of their own opened the door for a furious three-run Patriot rally that tied the score at 3-3. ETBU answered in the seventh inning with a walk-off two-out single by senior Stacy Havner.

Magic.

A three-run uprising in the sixth inning against Southwestern, the scrappiest team of the regional making its first-ever NCAA playoff appearance, finally sent the Tigers into the championship game.

Magic.

It's been a wonderful week to be a Tiger. Nothing is guaranteed at the World Series, of course. LC and UT Tyler took supremely talented teams to the last two championships and came home with nothing. Could the third time be the charm?

The ASC East proved to be the toughest division, of any conference, in the nation. Four teams were asked to play in the NCAA Tournament last week. All from the East side of the ASC.

UT Tyler has the ASC East championship. LC has the overall ASC Tournament title. ETBU can complete that trifecta and the ASC East can then stake the claim to have played perhaps the most dominant softball of any Division III conference in the nation.

It just takes a little magic.