Better ending deserved
Two forgettable innings should not spoil a season to remember.
Still, McNeese State's fourth straight championship softball season leaves you with an empty feeling despite all the positives.
The Cowgirls likely overachieved this spring, winning 40 games for the fourth straight time and finishing 41-20. Maybe that's what hurts the most.
'When you put so much into it, the pain is real,' said McNeese head coach James Landreneau. 'It should hurt. The more it matters to you, the more your work for it, the more it hurts.'
The pain for the Cowgirls last Saturday night was excruciating.
Up 4-0 over rival Southeastern at home with six outs to go before claiming their fourth NCAA bid in five years, McNeese only got five of those. A strange set of circumstances, umpire reviews took the Cowgirl faithful on a wild ride in the last 40 minutes.
Ultimately, the Cowgirls lost 6-5 and fell short of their ultimate goal moments after celebrating what they believed was victory. An umpire review changed the call, and a few pitches later, the outcome was flipped.
It was a bitter end to a sweet success story.
Now it is easy to forget that this was a very young team with only shortstop Reese Reyna returning to her starting position. There was a lot of adversity to overcome, like the injury to last season's Freshman of the Year Alexis Dibbley, who missed over half the season.
There was a pitching staff to rebuild and numerous questions to answer. At one point, McNeese was just 14-13 and searching to find itself.
'You look back and reflect on the growth of watching these kids grow and where they came from, I'm so proud,' said Landreneau. 'It's hard right now, but these players did everything we asked of them.
'We started at the bottom this year and worked our way up. You know, we had some kids who were unsure about how to do things, and just kept grinding out, and we had some players who learned how to succeed early in the year, just kept showing up. I could not be prouder of this group.'
The Cowgirls rallied to win their final 14 Southland games and captured the regular season title, becoming the first team to win four in a row. Depending on the transfer portal, the future should be bright.
Jada Munoz had a breakout season, finishing second in the league in home runs with 15 and led the league with 56 runs batted in while hitting .343. Freshman of the Year Kassidy Chance hit .378 in her first year in college.
Nyjah Fontenot, a transfer from Arkansas, led the Cowgirls in hitting at .392 while Samantha Mundine continued to improve in her sophomore year, finishing at .369 and playing much better defensively in the outfield.
Then there are the two young pitchers, Maddie Taylor and Kadence Williams, and you have the beginning of a solid staff. Both freshmen showed huge improvement during the season.
Taylor was named the league's Pitcher of the Year, posting an 18-7 record while Williams finished 11-7.
Landreneau said that in time, he will be able to reflect on all that this team accomplished.
Time heals all wounds, but it will never fully erase how far this group came this season or how close it was to its goal.
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