Game 1 Box Score /
Game 2 Box Score /
Game 3 Box Score
LEWISVILLE, Texas – Historic home run? Dramatic, even unlikely six-game sweep through some of the better teams in the nation? Three wins over nationally-ranked opponent s? The Louisiana College softball team's weekend at the American Southwest Conference Tournament had it all and, by the end, the Lady Wildcats (41-6) had earned the hardware for the third time in the last six years.
The tournament started Thursday night with a 3-2, 11-inning win over Hardin-Simmons, was low-lighted Friday morning by a 2-1 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor in a game that ended on a bases-loaded triple play, then was highlighted by five-straight elimination game wins over Concordia, No. 6 East Texas Baptist, Mary Hardin-Baylor and back-to-back wins over Texas-Tyler, the nation's No. 1 team in NCAA Division III.
The last three wins all came on Saturday with LC defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor 3-0 to earn a berth in the ASC title game, then defeating the Texas-Tyler 8-3 to force a winner-take-all final game against those same Patriots, who until that time had been undefeated in the double-elimination conference tournament.
In the final game, it was all LC, as the new conference champions downed Texas-Tyler 10-0.
“We just played three games in a row on back-to-back days,” LC coach Tim Whitman said. “We're all tired. You can see it in their faces, but man did they come through. It was a total team effort from top to bottom. I'm so proud of all of them, how they competed as a team and fought through the adversity to win a conference championship.”
It was hard to find a most-valuable player among the Lady Wildcats, although it wasn't hard to find standouts.
Junior pitcher Rene's Schwartzenburg, who was named the tournament MVP, was nearly flawless on the weekend, striking out 28 on her way to a 4-0 mark in five appearances with a 0.42 earned-run average and 28 strike outs after allowing just two runs on 16 hits and eight walks.
She was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow junior pitcher Kelly Williams (West Monroe, La./St. Thomas More) who went 2-1 on the tournament with a 2.21 ERA. Her best performance was in curtailing the offense of the Patriots in the first game of the championship.
Senior centerfielder Jodi Montagnino (Baton Rouge, La./Christian Life) batted .500 on the tournament, gong 10-for-20 with five runs scored and six RBI, and was another all-tournament selection.
She also made her mark on the LC record books when, in the final game of the tournament she connected on a three-run home run that, upon clearing the deep-centerfield wall set the new school record for homers in a season (10).
Senior second baseman Ashleigh Clement (Oak Grove, La./Oak Grove High) who batted .435 on the tournament with seven RBI and two runs scored, was the final Lady Wildcat to be named to the all-tournament team.
“We had plenty more who you could have made a case for,” Whitman said. “We got a great performance from all of our kids, especially our five seniors.”
Senior shortstop Mary Alice Roy (Baton Rouge, La./Central Private) batted .458 on the tournament with 10 runs scored and three RBI.
“This is a dream come true,” Roy said. “To come out here and get five straight wins … it's incredible. After we lost that first game I told everybody to just not give up. Every inning, every game, don't give up and we'll win. We all came together and stuck it out as a team and ended up freaking winning the whole thing.”
Senior first baseman Aimee Dubroc (Alexandria, La./Holy Savior Menard), only days away from taking her nursing certification exam, showed that even sluggers can lay down a good bunt and set up many scoring opportunities for the Lady Wildcats via this avenue.
The final LC senior, left-fielder Allison Frye (Pineville, La./Pineville High) belted the only other home run of the weekend for LC and made game-saving catch of a well-struck fly ball in the championship game.
Perhaps the unsung hero of the weekend was junior catcher Amber Thomas (Rosepine, La./Rosepine High) who accomplished the unenviable task of working the plate in all seven games (53 total innings) in three days.
“I'm just happy we won, especially for the seniors,” Thomas said. “We're not done, by any stretch, but we wanted to send our five seniors out with a conference title. And it's nice for Rene', Kelly and me (the only juniors on the team) because this is 2-out-of-3 for us. I think we're headed in the right direction.”
The Lady Wildcats, who closed their regular season losing three of their last four games, two defeats at the hands of Texas-Tyler and one by ETBU, certainly could have packed the tents, especially after the loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor Friday morning, but found a way to fight through and closed out another title.
“It was definitely a God thing,” Thomas said. “We just came together with the mentality that we had nothing to lose. We're the type of team that won't back down, whether it's against a small team or the No. 1 team in the nation. We just relaxed and let the game come to us. This was the most relaxed we've been all year.”
Next up for LC will be the NCAA regionals, at a site and time yet to be determined.
