Countdown to Gametime, Day 4

More quick takes from Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas:

•What thrilling outcome we witness during Saturday’s games against East Texas Baptist and Louisiana College. The seniors, Kendra Strahm and Brittany Miller, playing through pain and providing the neccessary leadership to push their teammates to greatness. The freshmen, Emilee Lepp and Staci Doucette, playing like they are seasoned juniors. With the season on the line, those two produced. And let’s not overlook the great boost given by junior Rochelle Friend, who a few weeks ago feared she may have to sit out the rest of the season with a serious injury.

Coach Jackson Vaughan descibed to his players last night what a great opportunity lay before them. With the exception of the Redlands game, the Linfield offense has been held mostly under wraps during this tournament. And the close calls favoring the Wildcats and timely hits have been fewer than would seem customary. Lady Luck could smile on the ‘Cats today against Texas-Tyler.

•So, for the third time in recent seasons, Linfield will be playing for the regional championship on Mother’s Day. The Wildcats are 4-0 in those games, twice reaching the NCAA Finals in 2006 and 2007. Will history repeat itself here?

•Sitting at the broadcast table, I’m tempted to reach for a jacket as the weather is decidedly more Oregon damp than Texas heat. Rain fell overnight, there is a steady cool breeze and thunderstorms are possible as the day progresses. The Wildcats should have no problem in those conditions, given what a wet and windy spring it has been.

•Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms following their daughters and granddaughters during this tournament!

Countdown to Gametime, Day 3

Loser leaves town.

It’s come down to that old professional wrestling adage for the Linfield Wildcats as when take on regional rival Louisiana College in a high-stakes battle for both programs in about one hour. The two teams took turns beating each other in the last two regional playoffs, with Linfield stunning LC 8-6 in 2007 (after trailing 5-0), and the Lady Wildcats coming back to beat the Purple and Cardinal ‘Cats 4-0 in 2008.

Louisiana College, led by undefeated pitcher Rene Schwartzenberg, has carved out a couple of one-run victories in the regional so far.

The LC/Linfield winner survivor moves on to play the loser of the early game between East Texas Baptist and Texas-Tyler today at 4 o’clock, local time.

History is on the side of Linfield, which is a remarkable 21-4 when facing elimination in the NCAA playoffs. But this is mostly new group of Wildcats and the younger players can’t rely on the past to carry them through.

Time will tell what kind of resiliency this Linfield team has. Go (Linfield) ‘Cats!

Quick Takes, Day 2

•There are simply just too many good teams here at the West Regional.

•Four games have been decided by one run so far, including last night’s barnburner between Linfield and Texas-Tyler that went 10 dramatic innings.

•All three California entries have been eliminated. The four teams remaining – Linfield, East Texas Baptist, Louisiana College and Texas-Tyler – have taken turns being ranked No. 1 in Division III this season and any of the four will prove to be a solid West Region representative in the NCAA Finals.

•In a team meeting following the loss to Texas-Tyler, Coach Jackson Vaughan said Linfield is still very much in control and the regional championship will come down to which of the four remaining teams “plays the best the rest of the way.”

•During the meeting, each player was asked to express their personal reasons for wanting the season to continue. Most commented that the team had simply worked to hard and sacrificed too much to let an opportunity go to the Finals once more go down the drain.

•As most teams have used up the arms of their No. 1 pitchers (Linfield’s Brittany MIller has already thrown 12 innings in less than 24 hours), depth of each team’s pitching staff becomes a make-or-break factor. The Wildcats’ Kendra Strahm, Samanatha Van Noy and Claire Velaski all have earned playoff wins in their career and will need to be at their best when called upon.

Countdown to Gametime, Day 2

Back in the makeshift broadcast tent, about 25 feet from home plate where I’m getting set up for the broadcast. It’s pushing 90 degrees today in Marshall with winds gusting in all directions. Lots of sunscreen being passed around.

So far today, the Wildcats took the opportunity to sleep in a little and catch up on some rest. We then packed up and departed the Econolodge for the more refined Quality Inn on the other side of Interstate 20. The Econolodge was more geared for working crews and truckers, probably not the safest area for college-age women to be staying. We took over the rooms that Redlands was occupying before being eliminated by the Wildcats last night. It’s the first time I’ve ever stayed in three different hotels in the same city on the same trip! Lunch followed at a nearby Quiznos. No burgers and greasy fries for this group.

Ever seen softball players wearing eye black? Me, neither. Nearly the entire Louisiana College squad is sporting dark stripes under their eyes, and for added dramatic effect, down the front of their cheeks.

La Verne ended conference rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps season this morning, winning 4-0.

Linfield is going to need some good karma today against Texas-Tyler as our small but vocal fan group is going to be outnumbered substantially. Tyler is only about 60 miles down the interstate from Marshall.

Quick Takes from Day 1

Here’s a few thoughts from the front lines of the NCAA Division III West Regional:

•Some of the best teams in the nation are competing in the West Regional and there are several programs which will suffer elimination however deserving they might be of a berth in the NCAA Finals.

•The inside of a Walgreens store in Marshall, Texas, looks exactly like the inside of the Walgreens store in McMinnville, Ore.

•Jackson Vaughan is one heck of a coach. But we already knew that.

•The California entries in this regional (Redlands, Claremont and La Verne) went a combined 0-4 Thursday.

•On balance, Brittany Miller’s worst day pitching is better than most pitcher’s best day in the circle.

•Being a play-by-play announcer is a lot harder than it appears.

•The Linfield softball program is going to miss Kendra Strahm tremendously once the charismatic senior graduates later this month.

Countdown to Gametime

In Texas, everything is done on a large scale. Marshall High School’s football stadium surely puts most Division II college programs to shame with its sheer size and sophistication. The MHS stadium is the setting for the TV series “Friday Night Flights.”

Here at Taylor Field on the East Texas Baptist University campus, Texas-Tyler has just beaten Redlands 2-1 in a very well played and tight contest. That means Linfield will face their old foe Redlands in the 6 o’clock game. The Bulldogs will be fighting for their playoff lives.

The team spent the morning hours packing up from our base camp at the Comfort Inn and moving to the EconoLodge. The reason: All the rooms at the Comfort were booked this weekend for a big cowboy event at the Josey Championship School of Calf Roping and Barrel Racing. Young women gather to compete in various rodeo events. No problem for the Wildcats, who are used to adapting on the fly.

A minor mishap to report: The van piloted by Wildcats assistant coach Ben Blosser sustained about $2,000 worth of damage when a local woman bashed the back end of the van while it was safely parked at the Sonic Drive-In last night. No one was injured and a police report was issued.

Just met a woman named Dora Vaughn, whose son, Robert, is a member of the Linfield baseball team. She’s following this week’s regional softball tournament because her daughter, Jessica, is a senior on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Small world.

Practice Makes Perfect

The ETBU Library

Mopping up the Water

Coach Jackson Vaughan

Brittany Woods, Coach Greg Herman

Sami Keim

Claire Velaski

Final preparations are complete and now the waiting begins.

Wednesday began with a dark and nasty thunderstorm that dropped buckets of rain on the City of Marshall and surrounding “ArkLaTex” area (that’s short for Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas). It looked for a while like the heavy rain would cause serious disruption to the NCAA West Region tournament’s practice schedule.

As it was, the storm only proved to be a minor speedbump. After taking a quick tour of the brick-laden East Texas Baptist University campus, the Wildcats went to the game field, where more than a dozen workers were busy pushing the excess water off the tarp that covered the infield. With the ground as hard as it is here, the moisture tends to puddle on the surface.

While the field prep was underway, the ‘Cats headed to the school’s old gym, where they practice hitting drills for an hour. Then it was out to the practice field to work on fielding technique.

An all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta and salad bar meal at nearby Guccis was on the dinner menu. The girls stocked up on plenty of carbs and should be able to unleash that energy on their first opponent Thursday. We still don’t know if that will be Redlands or Texas-Tyler, but it matters little as Linfield will have to face them both eventually anyway.

The club is in excellent all-around health with no pressing injury concerns. That’s not always been the case for this program in regional play. A good sign, surely.

The pre-tournament meeting was convened back on the ETBU campus inside the posh football office headquarters. Pretty snazzy for Division III.

Then it was back to the hotel for final comments from Jackson Vaughan, who reminded his troops to set their attitudes toward positive no matter what develops this week.

Weather for the next couple of days is expected to be hot and humid with temps approaching 90. Hope the Wildcats get to wear their cooler white uniforms, rather than the set of blacks.

Live from Marshall, Texas, it’s the West Regional

Time to dust off the old blog and get some commentary going as the Linfield Wildcats softball team plunges into the NCAA Division III playoffs this week at Marshall, Texas.

The team arrived in this east Texas town of about 25,000 last night around 10 o’clock local time. That capped a 15-hour day of travel that began at the Keck Campus parking lot at 4:45 a.m. No worries for this program, which has seen its share of long trips over the years.

First thoughts: Wednesday is the day when the teams get acclimated to the area and softball facility. Each team will take an allotted two hours practicing on the game and warmup fields. A big band of thunderstorms is swirling right now over the top of Shreveport, about another 40 miles east. Those storms may through today’s schedule into a tizzy, we’ll see. Game forecasts for Thursday and Friday are calling for temps in the high 80s, so the Wildcats better shed their winter coats quick and get used to playing in the heat.

Great column by Randy Benson of the (Alexandria, La.) Town Talk. Randy covers Loiuisiana College’s softball program like a blanket and Randy had an excellent take on the muddled tournament schedule. The pairings after the first round of games are all dependent on how many teams remain, which presents about three possible scenarios. In Linfield’s case, that means the top-seeded ‘Cats will be in position to eliminate a team after the first day.

I will have a tournament preview, loaded with facts and figures, posted on the Linfield Athletics home page later this morning. Thanks to Linfield sophomore Eric Evenson for help putting the preview together on a short timeline.

For those who might be wondering, I do plan on doing live internet broadcasts of Linfield’s games. We’ll get all those details set up today, also.

Remembering Erik Anderson

How fitting it is that Linfield track and field coach Dr. Garry Killgore has decided to rename the Linfield Icebreaker meet to the “Linfield Erik Anderson Icebreaker” in honor of the man who was killed last week while at work at the Community Colleges of Spokane.

Erik was a phenomenal athlete and a remarkable person. I remember seeing him just a few years ago at the Icebreaker and he remembered me from his career here in the mid-1990s. We shared a nice conversation and he told me how he had found his niche teaching and coaching at CCS.

Coach Killgore nearly broke down in tears the day he told me the news of Erik’s death. Linfield and the Northwest track and field/cross country community is going to miss him.

‘Cats are back in the Playoffs

The Bird's Eye View at Ted Wilson Gym

Amidst the hectic transition from winter sports to spring sports comes news that the Linfield men’s basketball team has qualified for the four-team Northwest Conference playoffs.

Kudos to the players and coaches of this team for keeping their composure through some potholes that the early season presented. Coach Larry Doty and his Wildcats began the season with only one win in their first seven games. They also dropped their first two NWC games of the season, meaning that the ‘Cats won 10 of their last 14 games to wrap up the playoff berth.

You have to admire the story of Cody Tesoro, who transferred to Linfield from Western Oregon two years ago and had been in and out of the lineup since he caught fire at midseason.

Cody Tesoro has come on gangbusters

Cody has been the spark that every playoff-caliber team needs, the guy who inspires his teammates to work that much harder, to keep their sense of humor and to push for the highest possible outcome to the season.

When Linfield meets Whitworth Thursday night in Spokane, I like the Wildcats’ chances. Sure, the Pirates will have the Fieldhouse rockin’ with rabid fans, but Linfield does hold a win over Whitworth this season and played pretty well for the most part in the rematch. I won’t bother going into detail about the officiating that night, but suffice it to say, it was not the most consistently referreed game I’ve witnessed.

I’ve always believed officials’ calls even out over the course of a long season, which is why the players shouldn’t leave the game in the hands of officials, but rather let their play dictate the outcome of the contest.

The coaches from both teams have mutual respect for one another and that usually means we can expect a hard-fought, yet cleanly played game.

Thursday’s playoff matchup marks Linfield’s first venture to the NWC playoffs since 2001. A check of the record book reveals the Wildcats are 1-4 in the NWC playoffs since the tournament format was adopted in the early 1990s.