Organized Chaos

Susan Painter is a patient person, or at least she’s shown she can be.

For years she has been at the top of the junior college softball world, searching for that elusive national title. The first step in reaching another national tournament begins Friday in Auburndale for the FCCAA Gulf District/NJCAA Region 8 tournament.

The winner of the Gulf District moves on to the national tourney in Plant City later this month. But that’s a long way away.

GC is the underdog of sorts. Chipola, the defending state and national champions, are the favorites and have played as such throughout the season. Manatee also is a contender, but only one team, Manatee to be exact, outside of the Panhandle Conference has won the Gulf District title.

This points to what has transpired over the years. It’s likely GC and Chipola will meet up to three times. Both teams can meet in the winners’ bracket final and in the district championship.

That was the case in the last two seasons, with GC sweeping Chipola in 2006 and Chipola holding off the Lady Commodores last year.

What will happen this time?

Well, I’ll say this, if GC plays like it did against Chipola in the final doubleheader of the season then the Lady Commodores will be tough to beat. It’s rare for a team to play so much better than it had in weeks prior, but that’s exactly what GC did.

The first game of the doubleheader was like watching vintage GC. The Lady Commodores had timely hits, played excellent defense and made good decisions all around. They did this all against Chipola’s ace pitcher.

However, while a championship may be in order, a quick exit is just as likely should GC play like it did in spots down the stretch. The bats weren’t clicking, the errors piled up and the reliable pitching could only do so much until the game was gone.

I’d bet GC would perform better than that this weekend. The key will be keeping it up for several days in a row. GC showed it could do that in the NFCA tournament earlier this season.

Painter said this team, which mirrors her previously youngest team in 2005. But this year’s group isn’t as far along as hitters as the 2005 bunch. Pitching is a strength and it will come around next year if it doesn’t this weekend.

The best news was the seasoned 2006 team advanced to the national final before falling to Pima, Ariz. in the championship. The same could be in store for the 2009 team, but Painter hopes this year’s season extends just a bit further.

You can check out the tournament brackets by clicking here. I’ll update them throughout the weekend.

Also, you can read my preview story by clicking here.

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