June2015
The lure of college softball by Bill Plummer
June 1, 2015
Oklahoma City, OK
The lure of college softball
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Each year thousands of thousands of college softball
games are played. Only a handful are played on the nation's biggest
stage where the Elite Eight fight it out for the NCAA National Championship.
With this the 25th anniversary of the NCAA Women's College World Series
in Oklahoma, the Auburn-UCLA game Saturday showed a national TV audience
and more than 9,000 fans the lure of Division One softball.
The game matched 11 time national champion UCLA against Auburn, which
was an upstart and never in its history had qualified for the Women's
College World Series. But that all changed when Auburn went out and got
the Myers' clan, headed by Dad Clint, along with his two sons two years ago.
The first year Auburn won 42 games. This year, Auburn surprised the
softball masses by winning a Super Regional to earn a berth in the 34th
annual Women's College World Series. Myers was named SEC Coach of the
Year and it marked only the second time in program history that an
Auburn softball coach won the award. Tina Deese, who Myers replaced as
head coach, won the award in 2002.
The Tigers finished second in the conference before winning the SEC
Tournament in extra innings to beat Tennessee 6-5. The Tigers also met
the Lady Vols in the WCWS this year and again beat them 4-2 earlier
Saturday in an elimination game. The Lady Vols were the first team
eliminated from the eight-team field.
How Auburn did this year might have turned some heads just as much the
game Saturday did that took 4:13 minutes to complete and decide which
team would play defending national champ Florida in Sunday's
semi-finals. Auburn wasn't expected to advance to the World Series let
alone set a school record for wins and qualify for the WCWS for the
first time in school history. Auburn started its softball program in 1997.
But where ever Myers has coached he's had the Midas touch and turned
programs around. But to turn a program around in two years is amazing
and I'm sure is not what most softball people expected the Tigers would
do this year.
But j ust as those many softball followers didn't expect the Tigers to
topple the Bruins, who were back in OKC after a five-year drought or
since it won its 11th national title in 2010, those close to the Auburn
and Myers knew otherwise because Myers' teams don't quit no matter what.
When the Tigers fell behind 5-0 going into the bottom of the third, they
didn't fall by the wayside. They went out and scored six times and
continued to fight throughout the marathon before winning 11-10 in 10
innings on a bases loaded walk.
The grit and determination of the Auburn team is what many softball fans
identify with concerning Division One softball and the Auburn program is
going to get better in the years ahead as are other programs seeking to
land a berth in the Women's World Series, the biggest stage in Division
One softball.
And oh yes, Auburn gave Florida all it wanted in Sunday's semis before
losing 3-2 in extra innings. The Tigers out-hit Florida but left too
many runners on base, 14 to nine, and didn't get the key hit when it
needed it to win. As it was the Tigers finished fourth and set a school
record for wins.
Myers said he was proud his pitchers limited Florida to five hits. The
problem was on the other side: Auburn left 14 runners on base.
"We had opportunities," Myers said. "Next year's team, we'll cash in on
that opportunities. We came up a little short."
"We will be back," said Myers."I'm really proud of what they
accomplished and how they accomplished it."
They did it with grit and hard-nosed play and never giving up or
quitting no matter what.
