Final Four!!

We were blessed with having an "away" home game on Tuesday before beginning the first of round of the HAAC post season tournament. Because their fields were too wet, MO Valley came to Olathe to play us in the final regular season series of 2011. We needed to sweep them to claim the 2nd seed in the tournament, and I am happy to say we did just that.

Being the #2 team in the bracket meant we were to host #7 Benedictine for the second straight season. I must admit I was extremely nervous, considering their deceiving 10-10 conference record included victories over #1 Central Methodist, #3 Lindenwood, and us. On a warm, but windy day at Williams Field, pitching and simply putting the ball in play were all we needed to advance to Round 2 of playoffs. Jen pitched amazing in Game 1, keeping Benedictine from even threatening to score a run throughout the entire game. Babs had us work on reading pitches in the dirt at practice on Thursday, which really worked to our advantage in Game 2. It was bittersweet to see our final home game of the season (and the seniors' careers) come to an end, but what's more important is that MNU Softball is the Final Four of the 2011 HAAC Tournament!!

Central Methodist and Evangel also swept their 3-games against MO Valley and Baker, respectively. Lindenwood and William Jewell had to play 14 innings in Game 2 and 19 innings in the decisive Game 3 before Jewell came away with the series win.

We are going to prepare like no other for our first opponent of the double elimination tournament: Evangel. We split with them earlier in the season, but as every sports fan knows--stats and history go out the window when playoffs arrive. I know that Coach Babs will continue to use his scouting reports to help us prepare for all aspects of Evangel's game. We played them earlier in the season, so we know that they're not the same team...but neither are we.

I am so excited to get a couple of practices in this week while the weather is nice before making the trip to Fayette, Missouri to keep pursuing our goal of repeating as HAAC Tournament Champs. It's been a great week to be a Pioneer!!

MNU vs. Evangel - Friday, May 6th - 2:00 PM - Fayette, MO

Love Always,
Taylor #21