The Chattanooga State softball team has a different perspective going into this year's NJCAA Division I national tournament in St. George, Utah.
Although the 2012 Lady Tigers had won the national championship there, the largely new 2013 team under rookie coach Blythe Golden didn't get out of its region, so no one in Golden's second group last year was familiar with the place or the playing atmosphere.
Yet those 2014 Lady Tigers wound up in third place, losing only to Central Florida (twice) and winning four games. And neither team that finished ahead of them is back at St. George this year. Plenty of the 16 teams can beat them, they know, but the Lady Tigers feel none should expect to.
They officially were made the fourth seed Sunday, behind No. 1 Salt Lake, Wallace State-Hanceville and Chipola. Three Texas teams are seeded fifth through seventh: Blinn, Howard and Temple. Chattanooga State (45-11) opens against another Texas team, 13th-seeded Navarro (38-22), at 4 p.m. Mountain time Wednesday.
Sharlene Godoy plays softball for Chattanooga State.The Lady Tigers beat Navarro 10-8 in 10 innings in their first game of the season. That was in early February.
Chattanooga State has eight starting players back from 2014, with two pitchers who got their share of innings in the nationals, so familiarity and experience now enhance the talent the Region VII champions have. And, yes, the Lady Tigers feel, their motto for the state/region tournament they hosted and won -- "Protect the Den" -- is still valid.
"We were there last year and we're the top returning finisher, so we can own the field as much as anybody else," slugging first baseman Lindsey Stickrod said Saturday, before knowing the Lady Tigers' seeding. "I know every game there is going to be a fight, like when we played Walters State and Volunteer State in the region tournament, but we are at least as good as the other teams in talent.
"Most of our sophomores were starting in the national tournament last year, and it's nice to know we have freshmen who are equally as good. Coach Golden says a lot that we can't let the moment be bigger than it really is, and we have been trying to prepare the freshmen for what it's like at nationals."
"They're ready, too," said Sharlene Godoy, who with fellow sophomore Hanna Manley has done most of the pitching this season. She greatly appreciates the team's overall ability, depth and balance.
"One through nine can all hit the ball, and we've got some speed this year," Godoy said. "That helps me a lot -- and all the pitching staff."
Freshman outfielder Shannon Plese is batting .452 with 21 extra-base hits, 54 RBIs and 69 runs scored, and center fielder Courtney Crawford is hitting .426 with 51 runs and 26 RBIs from the leadoff spot.
Stickrod has a .435 average with a .783 slugging percentage, figuring in her 16 homers, 14 doubles and a triple. She has driven in 74 runs and scored 60, and Katy Richardson (.391), Courtney Styles (.376), Katie Scott (.347), Izzy McCurry (.343), Sydney Sloan (.339) and Dana Horgan (.318) each has 39 to 48 RBIs and all but Scott, with 33 runs in 45 games, have run totals in the 40s and 50s.
Godoy is 18-4 with a save, a 2.16 earned run average and 185 strikeouts in 132 2/3 innings pitched. Manley is 16-3 with a save, a 2.19 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 115 innings.
"Honestly, it's anybody's tournament. It all depends on who's hot this week," Golden said. "Looking at records and based on the games we've played, Blinn, Navarro, Chipola and Shelton (State) certainly can win it (along with Salt Lake), and Wallace-Hanceville has had its way in the state of Alabama. Those Texas regionals are really good.
"The experience standpoint -- I think that's going to help us tremendously," she added. "But this tournament is set up for the team that stays in the winners bracket. Hanna stepped up and pitched us out of the losers bracket last year, but we still needed three more wins to win the championship. It's so much easier if you're that team that just has to win four games to play for the title, and then somebody has to beat you twice.
"We really didn't have a lot of expectations last year -- of course we wanted to win it, but mainly we just wanted to put everything out there and compete," Golden said. "Now we're taking a group of veterans who've been there, for the most part, and we know we have a chance to do well."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.