Reflections as the Pirates return home

As you can see above, all three Pirate teams made it back to Savannah safe and sound on Sunday. Which gives us time to reflect on just what a thrilling week it was for Armstrong State University Athletics out in Denver.

The 10th national championship for Armstrong State women's tennis was, historically, the closest since the 2005 title in which the Pirates ended BYU-Hawaii's record 130-match winning streak by a similar 5-3 score. Armstrong State has also now successfully defended its national title five separate times - 1995-1996, during the "three-peat" of 2008-2010, in 2012-13 and now 2014-15. A wise man once said that it's harder to stay at the top than getting to the top and the Pirates have been very successful staying at the top.

Armstrong State softball captivated the Regency Athletic Complex crowd with three straight elimination wins to advance to Friday's if-necessary game against Humboldt State. And they did it with a never-say-die attitude that stretched across all facets of the game. Pitching, defense and timely hitting all helped the Pirates make its deepest postseason run in school history. Also, Armstrong State has been to the DII Championships finals site three of the last four seasons. Only two other teams in Peach Belt history can say they've done that - Kennesaw State and North Georgia. Both of those programs have won DII national titles. The Pirates are close... and return 15 players for 2017 who were a part of the team that went to Denver this season, gaining valuable experience.

And finally, men's tennis. The Pirates have been achingly close the last three seasons to picking up a fourth national title, and Friday's loss to top-ranked Saint Leo was a tough one to take for many reasons beyond the court. But for three straight years, the Pirates have faced the top-ranked team in the nation in the semifinals, in matches which they clearly were not the favorites in, and fought to the very last point. The pride which they have shown in defeat is as impressive as any of the three titles Armstrong State has been fortunate enough to win. Nobody should question that. Nobody.

So the summer comes and these Pirates will head home or to other places to take a break from school and competition. For the seniors, the festival experience was especially bittersweet as they now face the prospect of either finishing school without being able to compete for the Pirates or heading out into the "real world" for their respective careers. For those who return to Armstrong State next season to once again don the Pirate uniform, this week showed them what it takes to reach the pinnacle of collegiate athletics - hoisting that trophy!

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! ... that's right, say it again. NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

When Armstrong State went down 2-1 in doubles to top-ranked and unbeaten BYU-Hawaii, things on the surface may have looked bleak for the Pirates. Especially when the teams split first sets, knowing that the Seasiders needed to win just three singles matches to capture the title and were half way there.

These Pirates, however, do not know when to give up.

Four singles wins later - including a clinching 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 match by junior Diana Stomlega over the Seasiders' Jeong Min-Jeon - and Armstrong State is once again your NCAA Division II National Champions!

Singles play had plenty of momentum swings but the straight-set wins by Lena Pacholski, Alejandra Cisneros and Carolina Prats-Millan set the tone and if Diana wasn't going to clinch, Lena Lutzeier was almost certainly going to do so against the top-ranked player in the country the way her match was going. That's right, the Pirates would have won five singles matches against the top-ranked team in the nation.

As much as it is a title for the women's tennis team, though, we have to give a very special thanks to ALL the Pirates who cheered on the team to victory - including the men's tennis team, the softball team and the student-athlete parents who all came out to Denver. Pirate Nation was in full force today and it was a spectacular sight to see.

Tonight, the closing ceremonies will take place at the Sheraton Downtown and we look forward to seeing the Pirates walk across the stage to pick up their trophy - the 10th in school history!

Pirates Trail BYU-Hawaii 2-1 After Doubles

When you looked at the doubles lineup for both teams, BYU-Hawaii had a clear advantage at the top two spots - and the Seasiders used that advantage well in taking two of three doubles points here in the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championship match.

The Pirates won at No. 3 doubles as Nicole Fossa Huergo and Lena Pacholski dispatched Jade Griffin and Kanela Adamson, 8-3, but BYU won at No. 1 doubles, 8-5, and at No. 2 doubles, 8-3, to put Armstrong State behind the 8-ball in the singles play.

All four times that Armstrong State has beaten BYU-Hawaii in the national championship match, it has done so while holding a 2-1 advantage after doubles. If the Pirates are going to capture their 10th, they will have to dig deep and find a way to win four of six singles matches against one of the strongest singles lineups in the nation.

Championship Saturday

We have reached Championship Saturday here at the DII Spring Sports Festival and the Armstrong State women's tennis team has arrived to begin pre-game warmups for the 9 am MT tilt against BYU-Hawaii. Just a reminder, you can watch all the action today through NCAA.com and follow live stats via Statbrodcast.

The last time Armstrong State and BYU-Hawaii faced off, it was the 2013 NCAA DII National Championship match in Arizona. None of the players in that matchup, however, are on either team today so it really is a bit of an unknown battle despite the amount of times these two teams have faced each other over the years. BYU Hawaii held off a furious comeback from Saint Leo yesterday in singles, winning 5-3 after going up 2-1 in doubles. The Seasiders actually trailed St. Mary's (Texas) 2-1 in doubles in the quarterfinals before winning 5-2. 

Doubles will be key and whichever team today has the edge going into singles will have a huge advantage in trying to bring home the trophy!

Consolation

It's never easy to write about a season's end, especially so close to the goal that every collegiate team has at the start of the season - a trophy. Today, the Pirates saw two great teams close the book on years that started off with optimism that played itself out in deep postseason runs.

Armstrong State men's tennis ran into the top-ranked team in the nation, Saint Leo, in the semifinals and battled hard in a 5-hour slugfest against the Lions, falling 5-2. It was the third straight time that the Pirates have faced the top-ranked team in the nation in the semifinals. All three times, the Pirates have fought to the last point, but have come up short against the nation's best. This team should not hang its head - Armstrong State proved all season long and today that it deserved its No. 2 national ranking and smart money says the way SLU is playing now, they should come out on top in tomorrow's national championship match. Either way though it should be a fun one to watch between the Lions and Hawaii Pacific.

Softball, meanwhile, captivated the crowds here around the DII Festival as well as the folks back home in Savannah with their magical run to today. Any team that can win three straight elimination games - and five overall in the NCAAs - can't feel bad about having the run come to a close, which it did today to No. 5-ranked Humboldt State, 6-2. But the Pirates learned a lot about themselves this postseason. They learned that even when the outcome seems predetermined, when in games the outlook is bleak - never let up. "All Gas, No Brakes" was the team's slogan this year and they epitomized it all season long.

Now the best thing about being in the DII Festival is that the Armstrong women's tennis team will have a huge cheering section as the Pirates play for the national title tomorrow at 9 a.m. against BYU-Hawaii. GO PIRATES!

Women's Tennis Through; Men's Tennis Faces A Tough Break

The No. 3-ranked and defending national champion Armstrong State University women's tennis team breezed their way into the national championship match with a 5-0 win over No. 7 Hawai'i Pacific in the semifinals on Friday morning. Sweeping the doubles helped the Pirates advance to their 15th national championship match - an NCAA DII record - and tomorrow Armstrong State will face old nemesis BYU-Hawai'i in the final. The Seasiders are unbeaten this season at 25-0, ranked No. 1 and had to battle in putting away No. 2 Saint Leo, 5-2, in the semifinals.

Armstrong State and BYU-Hawai'i have met seven previous times in the national championship match with the Pirates holding a 4-3 edge. The teams met in back-to-back years in 2012 (at the last DII Sports Festival in Louisville) and in 2013 in Surprise, Ariz., with Armstrong State winning both times. A win for the Pirates tomorrow would be their 10th DII women's crown.

The men, facing a stiff test against No. 1 Saint Leo, got a very quick 8-1 doubles win from Pablo Gor Costales and Ignacio Hernandez at No. 2 doubles, but the Lions got just a single break of serve at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, winning both matches 8-6 and putting the Pirates down 2-1 as we head into singles play. Watch the singles play via NCAA.com and hope that Armstrong State can dig deep and come back to join the women in tomorrow's Championship Saturday!

Defense Wins Championships

The axiom of "defense wins championships" gets a lot of run but mostly from old-school sports fans who remember the days of dominant NFL defenses, or even NBA teams like the San Antonio Spurs.

Well, the Armstrong State softball team would like to re-introduce you to the concept.

Late this afternoon, the No. 16-ranked Pirates won their third straight elimination contest at the DII Championships with a 3-2 win over Humboldt State, meaning that Armstrong State is just one win away from a best-of-three National Championship series. And defense was the key.

With the game tied 2-2, Armstrong State pushed across the go-ahead run thanks to an errant throw by the Lumberjacks' left fielder after a Jane Trzaska single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Nursing a one-run lead in the final two innings, the Pirates turned not one, but two straight inning-ending double plays - the seventh inning gem a 6U unassisted play by true freshman Macy Coleman - to preserve the 3-2 win and send Armstrong State into Friday.

The Pirates led the Peach Belt Conference in double plays in 2016 and so far this postseason, Armstrong State has turned five, including four in Denver alone. And with the Pirates needing to win three more games to bring home the program's first national championship, Armstrong State might need to turn a few more to keep its hopes of that title alive.

So the lineup is set for Armstrong State athletics on Friday - women's tennis faces HPU at 9:00 am MT / 11:00 am ET, then men's tennis takes on Saint Leo at Noon MT / 2:00 p.m. ET. The rubber game between Pirate softball and Humboldt State takes place at 2:30 p.m. MT / 4:30 p.m. ET. You can watch all of the Pirates' action on NCAA.com tomorrow and see if Armstrong State can pull off the extraordinary and have three teams in contention for a national championship just 36 hours from now!

The Name of the Game

We talked on the blog about how the smallest of plays affect games, especially on the biggest stage.  Well the Armstrong State softball squad experienced that again on Thursday - and this time on the winning side.

An RBI single that went just off the glove of Adelphi third baseman Breanna Martini's glove into shallow left field plated the only run of the game as the Pirates defeated the Panthers, 1-0, to keep playing at the DII Softball Championships. Armstrong State had plenty of opportunities for more runs - stranding 11 in the game, including two innings with the bases loaded - but the one run was all the Pirates would need, thanks to junior Jane Trzaska.

You can't say enough about the job Jane has done this postseason. Four times, head coach Ted Evans has given her the ball with the Pirates facing elimination, and four times she has come up with the win - this time she spun a two-hit shutout to keep Armstrong State's national championship hopes alive.

Speaking of national championships, both Armstrong State men's and women's tennis are back into the semifinals with eyes on the prize. The No. 2-ranked men downed NYIT, 5-1, to set up a showdown with top-ranked Saint Leo on Friday. The No. 3-ranked women beat Drury, 5-1, to advance and face a very familiar foe - Hawaii Pacific, who Armstrong State will face for the sixth time in the last seven NCAA DII Championships. The meeting will also be the third time in the national semifinals.

Both of tomorrow's tennis matches will take place at Metro State, which means they both will be on live video via NCAA.com. So tune in tomorrow to watch the Pirates try to advance to Championship Saturday.

But first - tune in later this evening for Armstrong State vs. Humboldt State as softball continues its dream of advancing to Championship Saturday! 

The Longest Wednesday

Wednesday morning at the DII Festival dawned with chilly temperatures but the promise of sunny skies. Unfortunately, the overnight rains meant that both tennis venues were late getting started in their matches, which pushed back not only the Armstrong State women's match against Lynn, but the men's match against Edinboro. In fact, due to the wet court delay AND two marathon matches beforehand, the Pirate men did not take the court against Edinboro until 10:30 pm - four and a half hours before the scheuled 5 pm game time.

Armstrong softball also had to wait a bit before it played its elimination game against Grand Valley State, and, like yesterday, had to wait for the offense to get into gear against the Lakers. But when it did ... the Pirates scored five runs in the last two innings to break open a 2-1 game and pick up the 7-4 victory. Junior Hannah Reppert had her second two-HR game of the NCAA postseason and now has 20 on the season, joining Alexis Mercer as the only Armstrong State players to hit 20 or more home runs in a year.

Jane Trzaska pitched the complete game and now has won three straight elimination games - the two at North Georgia last Thursday and today's game against GVSU. Having two quality pitchers will now be a necessity as Armstrong State will have to win twice tomorrow to stay alive - facing Adelphi at Noon and, if it gets past the Panthers, the Pirates will have to beat Humboldt State tomorrow evening.

Meanwhile, the women's tennis team had a tight match against No. 5 Lynn, but eventually won 5-1, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with one of the surprise teams of the tournament, Drury. The Panthers knocked off Concordia and come in with a 20-3 record, advancing to the Elite Eight only the second time in school history. 

Men's tennis was supposed to play at the same time as the softball team at Metro State's Regency Athletic Complex. Softball got on the field at 5:45 pm. Men's tennis did not take the courts until well past 9:00 p.m. - and when all was said and done, the No. 2-ranked Pirates took care of Edinboro, 5-0, to join the women's team in the national quarterfinals.

The first day of the NCAA DII Round of 16 historically has been the longest day of the championships - 32 teams playing 16 matches leaves very little room for error, and when several matches take longer than expected on top of a morning delay, well, somebody was going to be stuck playing late. As it turns out, the Pirates finished their match at 12:33 am local time - right as Thursday's opponent, NYIT, was putting the finishing touches on its 5-4 upset win over Indianapolis. So even though it's a quick turnaround, with less than 12 hours to get ready to play, both teams are on pretty equal footing from that standpoint.

So Thursday's schedule looks like this - Women's tennis takes on Drury at 8 am CT, while Softball faces Adelphi and Men's Tennis plays NYIT both at noon. We'll take another long day at the blog if it results in all of the Pirates winning, like Wednesday!

The slimmest of margins

The No. 16-ranked Armstrong State University softball team faced a tough task in the opening round of the DII Softball Championships on Tuesday, taking on No. 5 Humboldt State and the game was a microcosm of what makes softball such a great, yet frustrating sport. The Pirates fell to the Lumberjacks, 3-2, where one inning made the difference in the game. 

The game was scoreless in the bottom of the third inning when Humboldt State got an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead. What followed was unusual - a double steal on a 1-0 pitch, which put runners on at second and third. The Pirates appealed the batter's check swing on the pitch - and after the appeal was unsuccessful, pitcher Tori Bates was called for an illegal pitch (softball's version of a balk) which allowed the runner from third to score. Ball four to the next batter went to the backstop, with a passed ball allowing another runner to score - and just like that, it was a 3-0 deficit.

Not insurmountable, but the Pirates did not get their first hit until the sixth inning. When they did though, it was a leadoff single by Peyton Roth and a two-run home run from Logan Harrell - the fourth home run for the freshman in NCAA play so far this year. 

Humboldt State closed out the 3-2 win but the little plays that happened in the third inning are what made the difference - a 3-2 loss could have just as easily been a 2-1 win, or even an extra inning contest still going on right now.

All is certainly not lost - last season North Georgia was no-hit in its first game of the DII Championships and went all the way through the losers bracket to win the DII title. And the Pirates have been in this spot before as well, losing the first game to Central Oklahoma in the 2013 DII Championships only to win two straight elimination games, so when Armstrong State takes on Grand Valley State on Wednesday, the Pirates have a little bit of history on their side.

It also sets up an interesting afternoon at Metro State as at 5 p.m. CT, you will have Armstrong State softball playing at the same time Armstrong State men's tennis will be playing about 150 feet away from each other. The Pirate men take on Edinboro in its first round action at the Regency Athletic Complex tennis courts. Prior to those games, Armstrong State's women will face Lynn at 11 a.m. CT at the Gates Tennis Center. Go Pirates!

Mile High Fireworks

Tonight the Armstrong State tennis and softball teams took part in the DII Festival Opening Ceremonies, held at Denver's Mile High Stadium. Home of the Super Bowl 50 champion Denver Broncos. They made sure we knew that many times throughout the evening!

NCAA president Mark Emmert, Denver mayor Michael Hancock and others spoke to the more than 1,000 gathered student-athletes, welcoming them all to the Mile High City and preaching a message of community engagement, academic success as well as athletic success. Division II is unique within the NCAA in that they really do stress from a national level down to an institutional level about "life in the balance" and student-athletes succeeding in all parts of their collegiate careers. Armstrong State has had a banner year in the classroom this season - more than 70 student-athletes carried a 3.0 GPA or better during the calendar 2015 year.

After that came the exciting part - fireworks shot off from the Mile High Stadium field to the delight of all at the Opening Ceremonies. Watch the video from our Facebook page and be sure to follow us on Twitter all week long @armstrongpirate - we'll try to have some live look-ins at the Pirates through Periscope when they are not on the NCAA's live video feed.

Speaking of, the Armstrong State softball team will play at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow against Humbolt State kicking off action. Video and live stats links here. Let's go Pirates!

Armstrong State has arrived in Denver! Both the men's and women's teams had scheduled practices today, but as you can see in the above picture - mother nature had other ideas. The tennis teams got in about 30 minutes of hitting before rains fell at the Gates Tennis Center, while softball had a waterlogged practice today as well but thanks to the artificial surface at the Regency Athletic Complex on Metro State's campus, they were able to finish their practice this morning.

So for now, the teams have a little bit of down time before heading to Mile High Stadium for tonight's Opening Ceremonies. We hope the weather holds off so that we can get to see the planned fireworks display... before the real fireworks begin on Tuesday with the beginning of the Softball Championships!

Welcome back - now you get to leave again!

The Armstrong State University softball team finally arrived back on campus at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon - to a great reception that included faculty, staff and their travel companions coming up less than 36 hours from now, the Armstrong State men's and women's tennis teams. All three will be out the door very early Sunday morning to catch flights from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on their way to Denver for the DII Spring Sports Festival.

Both teams will be able to get in a little bit of practice on Saturday before heading out to Denver on Sunday. Despite just having the Super Regional end on Thursday, softball will be the first of Armstrong State's teams to play out at the Festival, taking on Humboldt State at 2:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 17th.

First though, we will have the DII Festival Opening Ceremonies at Mile High Stadium on Monday. Also, check out softball senior Peyton Roth on Monday as she takes over the Peach Belt Conference's snapchat to give you an insiders view of the DII Festival!

Well isn't that something ...

Pardon our brief surprise as the blog must make room on the Pirate bandwagon for another whole team - that's right, the Armstrong State softball squad knocked off No. 4-ranked and defending DII national champion North Georgia twice on Thursday to advance to the DII Spring Sports Festival in Denver. That's right, the Pirates are bringing THREE teams to Colorado to compete for a national title. There are six sports hosting DII Championships in Denver and the Pirates will have teams in half of them. This is the third trip for softball to the DII Championships in the last four seasons - and the first time that head coach Ted Evans and the Pirates will get a chance to compete in the DII Spring Sports Festival.

Other than tennis, only one other Armstrong State team has experienced the DII Spring Sports Festival - men's golf was a participant in the very first DII Spring Sports Festival in Orlando in 2004.

So bear with us as we re-vamp the blog a little bit to add a little softball content, and figure out how to bring you coverage of not one, not two, but three Pirate teams ready to storm Denver next week!

Festival Time!

Welcome to the 2016 Armstrong State University tennis blog! Hard to believe that nearly a decade has passed since the first time we've documented the Pirate men's and women's tennis teams in their annual search for the DII National Championship - but it has been well worth the journey as combined, the two teams have collected eight titles in that time, including women's tennis capturing the 2015 NCAA DII title in Arizona.

This is also the third time that the men's and women's tennis teams will be taking part in the DII Spring Sports Festival. The Festival is an event that takes place once every four years, where National Championships in six sports - men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, softball and women's lacrosse - will all be decided in the same spot. This year it's Denver, Colo.

We'll be honest. When Denver was announced as the site for the 2016 DII Spring Sports Festival, we were skeptical. But the 10-day forecast for the area looks pretty good, including a high of 87 degrees on Championship Saturday! The teams are pumped and are ready to get out to Colorado and prepare to challenge for two more championships.

The teams will fly out bright and early on Sunday morning, arriving around Noon and will have their first practice at the Gates Tennis Center on Sunday evening. We'll be back then with reports from the Rocky Mountain State, but for now, relive the past years of the Blog via the links section to the right and get ready to cheer on the Pirates!