Salem, va. >> Against Dixie State on Friday, the Chico State softball team saw its season slipping away. But a timely home run and stifling defense secured an NCAA Division II Super Regional title.
Advancing to the tournament already represented the furthest the Wildcats had advanced in several years. This coming weekend, however, is a different story.
“This is the end,” junior catcher Claire Wayne said Monday after practice in Chico. “This is where you lay it all down on the line. … There is no going back now. This is it.”
The Wildcats (55-4), ranked No. 2 in the nation, will compete in their first D-II Championship finals since 2002 starting Thursday at 3:30 p.m. against the No. 25 Saint Leo Lions (37-16) of Florida at the Moyer Complex in Salem, Virginia.
The double-elimination tournament featuring the eight Super Regional champions goes through Monday.
Chico State is the third seed in the tournament, while Saint Leo is the sixth.
Leading up to the Super Regional, the Wildcats hammered home the message that it was just another set of games, no different than the West Regional or the regular season games that came before it. But several members of the team acknowledged how different it felt advancing to the championship series.
Wayne said her high school team won a Division 1 CIF Southern Section championship, but that was nothing compared to what is in store for the Wildcats come Thursday. Senior second baseman Karli Skowrup said the magnitude of the moment will likely sink in more once the team arrives in Virginia. They flew in Tuesday.
But the Wildcats aren’t letting themselves become prisoners of the moment, or get overwhelmed by the stakes.
“I don’t think we need a different mindset,” Wildcats coach Angel Shamblin said. “It’s still the same game. … We’re just on a bigger stage. So it’s just about between the ears and how we handle that and how we look at it. It’s about opportunities. It’s all good at this point.”
This will be the first appearance in the final eight for Chico State’s current roster, including Shamblin. The coach is excited for the opportunity, which does not come for many players or coaches, she said.
At the same time, the Wildcats have not forgotten about their ultimate goal of winning a national title.
“When I say that we’re excited to be there, that doesn’t mean that we’re just excited to ‘be’ there,” Shamblin said. “It means that we’re on a mission still to win a national championship and that’s what we’re going there to do.”
Winning could be the biggest challenge yet for Chico State this season. During the playoffs, the Wildcats’ offensive numbers have taken a dip, albeit against stiffer competition.
The most glaring decrease is in Chico State’s situational hitting numbers. With runners on, bases loaded or runners in scoring position, the Wildcats are hitting .270, .286 and .283, respectively, in the playoffs. During the regular season, they hit .335, .381 and .347 in those respective situations, per statistics provided to the Enterprise-Record.
Wayne said the biggest adjustment the team can make is finding a way to leave fewer runners on base. In the nine playoff games Chico State has played, it has left 70 runners on at the end of innings.
“We’ve had a lot of unfinished innings,” Wayne said. “If there’s one thing I know coming into this next week it’s doing our most to make sure we literally take every at-bat as serious as we possibly can. If we get a runner on, we have to do the best that we can to score her.”
Junior Amanda Flores said Chico State needs to keep its mental mistakes at a minium now that it is deep in the postseason.
“In the regular season, you can get away with a couple extra things,” Flores said. “But at this level, everybody’s good. Everybody has it. It’s about who’s going to make the most mental mistakes or the most mistakes on the field. It’s not about who’s the better team necessarily. It just comes down to a couple pitches, a couple hits that make a difference.”
Throughout the season, the Wildcats have made a habit of coming from behind to win games. Flores said she “definitely” does not want to rely on that skill this weekend.
“You’re not going to come through every time,” Flores said. “We don’t want to leave it up to chance and leave it up to those last two innings like we have.”
Wayne agreed, but added that having the ability to play from ahead or behind is a plus for the Wildcats.
“Understanding that we can do it either way is what’s going to be really big for us,” Wayne said.
Flores knows the national championship is a new frontier for the team. But in her mind, the team is playing with house money and with no pressure.
Having the opportunity to compete for a national title is just icing on the cake, Flores said.
“To not win Regionals or win Super Regionals, that would’ve been heartbreaking,” Flores said. “But this, we’ve already made that stage. The bonus is just winning it.”
Wayne said the team is basking in the feeling of competing in the final eight. But to her, the Wildcats still have business to take care of.
“We’re going to take (the experience) all in, but not let ourselves get distracted on our main goal and what our goal was this season,” Wayne said. “We’ve already accomplished so many things. Why stop now? Yeah, take it in, but why stop now?”
