Hornets baseball, softball going to national tournaments

5/8/07

By Andrew R. Koch
Sports Editor

The Lyndon State baseball and softball teams have earned bids to go to the national tournaments for the first time in recent memory.

This year was the first winning season in several years for each team. The softball team learned about their bid last week, while the baseball team received their berth on Tuesday. According to a press release on the athletic department’s web site, this year was the baseball team’s first winning season in over ten years. The team has recently caught fire on their way to earning the bid.

Two weeks ago, the Hornets were on the outside looking in at a bid, as they were two games below .500. The team has won eight out of their last 11 games, including back-to-back doubleheader sweeps against UMaine-Farmington. The softball team has won five out of their last eight games and has had a winning record since April 12.

“I can’t even explain how I feel right now,” senior captain Angel Phelps said. “I’m honored to be a part of this team. This is the best thing to happen to me in college sports.”

“This’ll be great for me to finish out my last year ever of playing fast-pitch softball by going to the national championship as a number one seed,” said senior pitcher Ashlea Bourdon. She and junior catcher Sara Fetterhoff will each be going to their second national tournament this year, to go with their appearance at the USCAA women’s national basketball championship earlier this year. Bourdon says she’s more excited for this tournament because softball is her sport, and that she’s worked hard to reach this level. Fetterhoff thinks this string of national championship appearances by the school’s women’s sports teams shows how strong the women’s sports programs are here at LSC.

“It’s good to finally get some recognition,” Fetterhoff said, adding that she enjoys the camaraderie of her teammates. She also had some advice for her teammates about what it’s like to go to a national tournament.

“The goal is to win a few games, if not the championship. It’s not a vacation. The school is sending you to make a name for it,” Fetterhoff said.

Junior lefthander Matt Picard of the baseball team has enjoyed the offensive support he’s received in his recent starts. He and junior righthander Jesse Ballard lead the team in wins.

“It’s been phenomenal,” Picard said. “We got hit after hit. The offense got big hits from everyone in the lineup, especially big two-out hits.” It hasn’t been just Picard and Ballard leading the way in the rotation; it was everyone on the staff, as well as everyone on offense.

“The whole team in general has done well, on both offense and defense,” Picard said. Head coach Ryan Farley praised his players’ mental toughness when they caught fire on their way to clinching their tournament bid. The bats proceeded to heat up from there.

“The guys made a decision and they wouldn’t be denied,” Farley said. He added that this season’s success is the result of hard work all season long.

“We put a lot of work into it,” Farley said. “It’s nice to see it pay dividends, especially for the seniors.”

Farley says that after the struggles of the last couple of years, it’s rewarding to know that he was doing the right things and was putting the team in a position to be successful.

“It’s nice to know there’s something after the regular season,” Farley said. “It’s nice for the seniors who experienced the hardships.”

The softball team will be in Illinois for their tournament this weekend, while the baseball team will leave for Virginia tomorrow.