Reach 30 wins for the first time in program history
The Trinidad State Junior College Lady Trojans softball team's season came to a close at the Region IX tournament held in Scottsbluff last weekend. TSJC won the first game 7-6 over McCook before dropping two heartbreakers to Otero, 5-4 in 10 innings, and then to Lamar, 4-3, to close out their season with 30 wins and 22 losses.
"It was not the way we wanted to finish the season but my girls played hard every game and never quit," Trinidad State Junior College softball coach Steve Swazo said. "I really thought going in to this tournament we had a chance to win it, but we just didn't get the hits when we needed them and the other teams did. I am still very proud of this group to get 30 wins in a season is remarkable."
In the first game Trinidad trailed 6-1 to McCook but the Lady Trojans battled back to tie the game with a homerun from Alyse Billick in the fourth and a two-run homerun from Julia Diehl in the fifth. McCook pushed a run across in the top of the seventh to retake the lead. With Trinidad trailing, 7-6, Diehl then hit her second homerun of the game to tie the score. The Lady Trojans then pushed across another run in the final inning for the come from behind 8-7 victory.
Sophomore pitcher Rachel Brug picked up the victory with Diehl coming in for the save. Diehl was also 3-for-4 with two homeruns and 4 RBI's, along with Nikole Morgan going 2-for-4, Alyse Billick was 2-for-4 with a homerun and Yadira Jacquez was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the game.
"I was very pleased with the character of the girls throughout this game," Swazo said. "They could have quit when we were down 6-1 but kept their heads in the game, played with confidence and found a way to win. I was very proud of these girls. The temperatures were in the low 30's with the wind chill and they fought through that along with the deficit and came back to win it."
The second game had Trinidad facing #2 seed Otero and the Lady Trojans struck first taking a 3-0 lead after one inning of play. Tanisha Bradford started the game with a single and then scored off a double from Julia Diehl. Anneliese Lange hit a double scoring Diehl and then Lange scored on a “hit by pitch” to Kayla Litton for the 3-0 lead. TSJC added a fourth run in the third but that was all the Lady Trojans could muster for the next six innings as Otero scratched their way back to score single runs in the second and fifth innings and then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings. Neither team could score until the 10th inning when both teams had to go to the international tie breaker rule where a player started the inning at second base with no outs. Trinidad was not able to score in their half of the inning and then Otero with one out, got a bloop single over the shortstop to fall in the for the 5-4 Otero victory. Julia Diehl pitched all 10 innings for the loss and also was 3-for-5 in the game. Morgan was 2-for-5 and Jacquez was 2-for-4 in the contest.
"This was a tough game to lose as we had them right where we wanted," Swazo said. "You have to give credit to Otero where they shut us down from the fourth inning on and we didn't get the hits when we needed them. That's softball as you just never know. The fans couldn't have asked for a better game but it just didn't turn out in our favor."
In the elimination game, Trinidad fell to Lamar 4-3. Trinidad once again had a lead that they could not keep taking a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning as pitcher Jenni Trujillo had a no-hitter through four innings. A two-RBI double from Nikole Morgan and a RBI single from Julia Diehl were all the runs Trinidad could muster. Lamar was able to score the winning run in the top of the seventh inning.
"Not how we wanted to finish the season but the hits didn't fall for us this game and I think some of our players were still emotionally drained from the Otero game," Swazo said. "We had some opportunities and didn't bring home runners when they were in scoring position. I thought Jenni pitched a great game but it just wasn't in the cards."
Trinidad will lose seven sophomores: Kendace Bonner, Rachel Brug, Anneliese Lange, Valerie Garcia, Crystal Miller, Stacy Gemelli and Jenni Trujillo and will return 14 players for next season.
"I am going to miss these sophomores who did a great job for me both on the field and also in the classroom. They are great student-athletes and can only wish them all the best in the future endeavors," the TSJC coach said.
Julia Diehl and Nikole Morgan were selected Second-Team All-Region for their play during the year and Diehl and Yadira Jacquez were selected to the Region IX All-Tournament Team for their play in the tournament.
Trinidad finished the season with a school record 30 wins and also set numerous team and individual records this year. Final statistics will be released later this week.
Updated Bracket
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