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ULM Softball Left Last Impression with Postseason Charge

ULM Softball Left Last Impression with Postseason Charge

Softball May 19
By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

MONROE, La. – As the ULM softball team made its rejuvenating run through the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the head coach's cell phone was bombarded from far and wide. 

"I had tons of text messages and phone calls," ULM's first-year coach Molly Fichtner said. "Alumni were reaching out. I had a ULL graduate reaching out wishing us luck. People were pulling for us and it was all because of the girls. We were fun to watch the past few weeks. That's what we want. Blue-collar, resilient kids out there working hard and that's exactly what we had."

As life lessons go, the ULM softball season provided a memorable one for its players, coaches and supporters. Sometimes, it's not how you start, but how you finish. 

Fichtner's inaugural season produced a 14-42 record and plenty of growing pains. But the Warhawks showed a spark late in the campaign, edged into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and produced an exciting charge to the semifinals before elimination. 

"It was a long season," Fichtner said. "But my goodness – that was a fun way to end it!"

The No. 8-seed Warhawks fell one win short of advancing to the Sun Belt Championship Game for the first time since 2008 and gave the program a positive jolt heading into the offseason.

"The last four weeks of season was the ballclub that I was envisioning for this program," Fichtner said. "That was an exciting team to watch. The fight, the resilience and perseverance was all year. The buy-in was all year. Never once did they waver. It could have been so easy for them to check out. The season wasn't going the way they wanted. We weren't getting many breaks."

One big break came right at the end and opened the door to the postseason. Bad weather wiped out the final two games in the home series against Sun Belt Champion Louisiana-Lafayette. ULM was left counting on Troy to beat South Alabama to give them their tournament berth. 

Instead of a Senior Day at the field, the team held a ceremony in the library. Fichtner was speaking, but every table was monitoring the out-of-town game. 

"I'm sitting there talking and all of a sudden, everybody starts clapping," Fichtner said. "I looked over at one of my players and all of a sudden, everyone is howling and jumping up and down. 'Coach, Troy won on a walk-off.' Everybody goes nuts because our season is not over. The seniors were crying already, and now, they're crying even harder."  

Given new life, the team didn't waste its opportunity. 

In the first-round game, freshman right-hander Adrianna Chavarria recorded her first career shutout as ULM defeated No. 5-seed Appalachian State, 2-0. Chavarria tossed a two-hitter and outdueled App State right-hander Kenzie Longanecker, who earned All-Sun Belt First-Team honors.

After losing 3-0 to Texas State in the double-elimination tournament, ULM bounced back to beat No. 2-seed Troy, 3-0. Chavarria pitched her second shutout and struck out eight while Jayden Mount hit a three-run home run in the 10th inning to claim the upset. 

There was more magic left when "Rocky" Chavarria tossed her third-straight complete game and Mount hit another three-run homer as ULM scored a 5-2 victory over No. 3-seed UT Arlington. 

In particular, that win underscored the growth of the team over a challenging season, Fichtner said. 
 
"You saw Rocky toward the end of the year," Fichtner said. "Those experiences, she'd been there. When we played UTA in the regular season, it was 7-1 going into the seventh inning and we couldn't close it out. We literally lost in the bottom of the seventh when we were up 7-1. Then we're playing them in the conference tournament and we're up again by a few runs. The wheels started to fall off in that seventh inning again. But the good part is that everybody settled in and you saw the leadership. They just looked more confident out there. They've grown tremendously."

The postseason run finally ended with a 4-2 loss to Coastal Carolina in the tournament semifinals, but the impact was tangible. Both Chavarria (3-0, 0.97 ERA, 16 strikeouts) and Mount (4-for-15, 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI) were named to the Sun Belt All-Tournament Team and the program had something special to sell going forward.

"The beauty about going out the way we did is, it excites everybody," Fichtner said. "It excites the community. Look at it big picture and the outcome was not near what the expectation is, in my opinion and my expectation of this program. At the end of the day, we did something they hadn't done in years when it mattered. That was the postseason run that we made. You see a lot of people excited for the future of this program and they saw it come together. There's still buy-in. We're creating something special and we're on the road to it. It's not going to happen overnight.
 
"We saw that the entire month of February. We didn't win much. We had to fight and we had to take some punches. The cool part is that it came together at the end. People got that dose of, 'ULM is fun to watch.'"

Fichtner witnessed the culture she wanted cultivated take root late in the year. 

"When you have your players saying things to each other like a coach would say, using the same verbiage," Fichtner said, "that's when you know your program is headed in the right direction." 

The program bids farewell to ULM career hits leader Sydney McKay, who batted .382 as a senior with 68 hits and 28 stolen bases. The All-Sun Belt Conference outfielder finished with 270 career hits. 

"You can't ever replace a Sydney McKay," Fichtner said. "That's going to be a big hit for us in that leadoff position. My vision is to make Korie Kreps into the next Sydney McKay, but you're never going to do that because Korie is her own and Sydney is her own. But we're going to miss Sydney's bat in the lineup and Sydney's leadership. But it's another year for people to step up, and we'll see who our leaders are."

Mount, who hit .302 and led the team with seven home runs, will be the only returning infielder and a key senior leader at shortstop.
 
"She's told me numerous times that she wants to coach," Fichtner said. "I think Jayden and I have a good relationship too. She understands the philosophy and where the program is going. Jayden is so bought in. Not only is she talented, but she does have that leadership role. She's going to be somebody we rely on heavily next year to lead this program."

ULM utilized four freshman pitchers including Chavarria (9-14, 4.18 ERA), who led the staff with 29 starts. 

"For starters, the best thing about our pitchers is that they're going to be sophomores now," Fichtner said. "Besides Jessie Watts, we threw our freshmen into a lot of situations this year. They got a ton of experience." 

The infield will have a new look next year as seniors Megan Shaw at third base, Bailey Thibodaux at first base and Jaclyn Kresta at second base all exit the program. 

"Our infield, we graduate three of our four starters," Fichtner said. "We're definitely going to see who will cover the infield positions and what we're going to do about that." 

Turnover is part of college athletics. In addition to the departing seniors, ULM pitching coach Melanie Coyne also announced her decision to leave the program. 

"We'll be in the hunt for a new pitching coach," Fichtner said. "She's done a lot for this program, and she definitely left her mark. She was a great player and a great coach. Now, she's ready to pursue other career opportunities."

Fichtner, who got a late start with the team last September, is looking forward to enjoying an entire offseason to polish the program and continue the recruiting process. 

"The beautiful thing is that I'll have an actual fall with them," Fichtner said. "I came in with them so late they were already in team practices. Myself and my coaching staff will be able to have an entire fall to break things down." 

Moving ahead, ULM's fantastic finish will provide fuel for the fire.  

"We're just getting started," Fichtner said. "That was a fun postseason run, but now, that's the expectation, right?"
 
Bailey Thibodeaux celebration vs. App State 2019 Sun Belt Championship

 
 
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