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Lady Lions Top Saints For National Title

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By DAREK SHARP

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2008

PLANT CITY - Wallace State Community College-Hanceville won its first national championship, defeating Santa Fe Community College 5-2 on May 17 in the finals of the National Junior College softball tournament at Plant City Stadium.

Santa Fe had made a long journey through the loser's bracket after being stunned in one of the first games of the event. The Saints, ranked No. 1 in the country, lost their opener May 15 to the lowest seeded team in the field, Spartanburg (S.C.). However, Santa Fe, out of Gainesville, recovered and reached the finals by winning six straight games, including three in one day.

But Wallace-Hanceville, seeded fourth, was on a roll. The Lady Lions finished their season on a 41-game winning streak, defeating Santa Fe in a game that was tied until Rachel Baucom's single scored Hannah Strength in the fifth inning.

Jennifer Sexton pitched the final three innings to get the win and was named the tournament's most valuable player for her work during Wallace-Hanceville's 5-0 run in Plant City.

Plant City has hosted the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I tournament for the third straight year. Games were played at the Randy L. Larson Softball Four-Plex and Plant City Stadium.

Action May 15 featured 16 contests. The other Florida school, Tallahassee Community College, lost its opener despite hitting a homer to tie the game in the top of the seventh. No. 12 San Jacinto won 5-2. The highest scoring of the first-round contests saw No. 14 Iowa Western Community College upset Yavapai College of Prescott, Ariz., by a 10-7 count. Iowa Western hit three homers in the top of the eighth.

The first batch of elimination games saw Santa Fe barely avoid a 0-2 stay in Plant City. The Saints edged Northeastern Oklahoma 4-2 in 12 innings. Academy of Holy Names graduate Kristina Cruz went 4-for-5, and Katelyn Murphree pitched all 12 frames. Yavapai became the first high seed to be eliminated, 3-2 against McLennan Community College from Waco, Texas.

In quarterfinal matchups the bottom seeds completed their incredible day, as Spartanburg topped Midland College 6-1. Also advancing to the semifinals were Chattanooga State, Wallace-Hanceville and Iowa Western.

In the semifinal games May 16, Wallace-Hanceville edged Spartanburg 6-4 and Chattanooga State dropped Iowa Western 4-2.

The first four games May 16 were elimination contests, and those winners played later in the day, with Santa Fe crushing Southern Idaho 12-1 and San Jacinto College-South of Houston dropping Wabash Valley of Mount Carmel, Ill., by 11-6. Santa Fe and San Jacinto then both won their third games of the day, beating the two semifinal losers: Santa Fe nipped Iowa Western in a 5-4 decision and San Jacinto ended Spartanburg's run with a 9-0 victory.

The last game of the night saw Wallace-Hanceburg get itself into prime position for a title, beating Chattanooga State 4-3 in dramatic style on Strength's two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh.

That left three teams to battle the morning of May 17, with the survivor moving on to play Wallace-Hanceburg and needing to beat the Lions twice for a championship. Santa Fe earned that right with two easy victories, 13-2 against San Jacinto and 6-1 over Chattanooga. The Saints scored nine runs before San Jacinto came up to bat.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib.com.

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