Absolutely...

Posted on: June 7, 2019 at 05:27:52 CT

When the season started I thought there was no better than a 50/50 chance of even a winning record and qualifying for the NCAA tournament. People who presumably know a lot more than me about softball (SEC coaches), picked this team to finish dead last in the conference.

We went 35-25, finished tied for 6th in the best, deepest conference in the nation, and pushed the eventual national champions to a deciding winner take all game on their home field in an NCAA regional, and in that regional handed them their only loss of the post season.

And we were just a hair away from a 42-44 win season, which would have had us in the conversation for hosting a regional. We had a number of close losses to top 25 SEC teams, and had 4-5 baffling hiccups against teams we were clearly better than. Definitely left 7-8 wins on the table.

And did all this with a very young team, amidst the turmoil of a new head coach, the transfers of 4 starters from the prior year, and a pitching staff (the most critical indicator of success in softball) that talent and depth wise ranked near the bottom of the conference.

It was an outstanding year in my mind taking all that into account. Coach Anderson took what she had and made this team far better than the sum of its parts, a cliche, but true.

Edited by bluetiger_ at 05:30:50 on 06/07/19