It was truly a team effort.
When a team wins 38 games and records an 18-6 mark in league play, every body contributes along the way. And that was certainly true of Louisiana Tech’s march to the 2022 Conference USA regular season title.
Exactly one year ago to the weekend, Louisiana Tech had to sit and watch North Texas celebrate on Dr. Billy Bundrick Field after sweeping a four-game series from the Lady Techsters. The Mean Green were the C-USA champions.
Enter new head coach Josh Taylor and a re-energized, re-focused group of talented softball student-athletes wearing Tech across the front of their jerseys. And there you have the ingredients for a bit of a Cinderella story.
It took 11 straight wins by Tech in league play to end the season. None of them bigger than the other.
However, Sunday’s will stand the test of time when it comes to the flare for the dramatic. Trailing 7-3 and down to their final out in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Lady Techsters pulled the proverbial rabbit out of a hat.
A bases loaded walk by Brooke Diaz forced a run home. 7-4 Southern Miss still led.
An RBI single to left field by Madie Green drove another run home. 7-5 Southern Miss still led.
A loss by Tech and the Lady Techsters would have to share the league title with North Texas and WKU (and Tech would fall all the way to the No. 3 seed in the upcoming C-USA Tournament in Denton).
Former Cedar Creek product Katelin Cooper stepped to the plate. Took a strike. Took a ball. And then Cooper laced a line drive to left centerfield that was just out of the reach of a diving USM centerfielder Destini Brown.
As the ball rolled all the way to the fence, Taylor waved three Lady Techsters home as Green touched the plate for the walk-off 8-7 win.
It had an eerily similar feel to a certain 2021 Diamond Dogs walk-off wins against the same Mississippi-based school last May in JC Love Field. Eerily similar.
Dog pile central. Que the “We Are the Champions” by Queen. Fire off the confetti.
The Conference USA office will only have to mail one trophy out and it’s going to Origin Bank Soccer and Softball Complex to join a collection of three other league championship trophies in Taylor’s office.
Sunday’s win wouldn’t have meant nearly as much if Tech hadn’t pulled out a 1-0 win on Friday behind a complete-game shutout by Audrey Pickett, her 24th of the season.
And not to be outdone, another Cedar Creek product Lauren Menzina tossed a complete-game in a 6-1 Tech victory on Saturday.
It was truly a team effort.
It will take the same effort to claim the Conference USA Tournament Championship which starts Wednesday in Denton. Tech will play its first game Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against whoever survives Wednesday’s single eliminations rounds with Marshall, Florida Atlantic and UTSA.
