Jun 23, 2017 5 min read

Adversity.

We have all been through it in our lives. Whether it’s a big, life-changing event or a small day-to-day challenge, we have all battled some type of adversity.

Sports’ adversity is a lot simpler than real-life adversity, because, let’s face it … it’s just sports. Win or lose, life does go on (but for some, I guess, it takes a little longer).

For the first time in the 2017 softball season, West Greene faced some adversity in the most pivotal point of its season in the PIAA Class A championship game last Friday at Penn State University.

Williams Valley, who defeated the Lady Pioneers 3-2 in last year’s final with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh, built a 7-0 lead through two innings and seemed to be clicking on all cylinders.

In those first two innings of the title game, West Greene wasn’t acting like itself. The Lady Pioneers weren’t acting like a team that had racked up 50-plus wins over the last two seasons.

Their solid defense made some mistakes, their stellar freshman pitcher was actually pitching like an inexperienced freshman and their potent offense was being held in check thanks to some inconsistent at-bats and mistakes on the base paths.

In the dugout the Lady Pioneers had to be asking themselves questions and second-guessing some things.

Some of those questions might’ve been: Does Williams Valley just have our number? Maybe our destiny isn’t to win a state title? Maybe we just have a jinx at Happy Valley and just can’t win here?

The West Greene faithful that traveled close to four hours to get to the game (and, trust me, there were a lot of them) had to be asking themselves, is this how this season is going to end?

Was there disbelief in the Lady Pioneers’ dugout? I am sure there was. Was there a little bit of panic? How could there not be, they are human after all.

But whatever questions they were asking themselves or each other, one thing is for sure, they didn’t go down quietly and they faced that 7-0 adversity head on.

“We were a little stunned and we panicked a little bit,” said junior shortstop and vocal leader of the team, Madison Renner. “But we never gave up. We never completely put our heads down and just gave up. I was talking to one of our assistant coaches, and he kept on telling us that it’s way too early and we had plenty of time to come back.

“We just needed to get back on track and come together as a team. We couldn’t start blaming each other and looking back at what happen. We had to regain our composure and play West Greene softball. We just needed to get that one run on the scoreboard and work from there.”

West Greene cut the deficit to 7-2 in the top of the third and then Madison Renner and her freshman sister Jade had hits in the fourth that produced three runs and made it 7-6.

After a scoreless fifth, the Lady Pioneers took the lead with three runs in the sixth. Madison Renner drew a bases-loaded walk for the eventual game-winning RBI in the 9-8 triumph.

When sophomore third basemen Madison Lampe corralled the ground ball in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and the game-tying run on third base, the team and their fans erupted when junior first basemen Lexie Mooney caught the ball and completed the play for the win.

“Just an indescribable feeling,” said West Greene’s starting catcher Shelby Morris, the lone four-year senior, after the game. “To battle and to fight this far to get into the state final, we couldn’t have went down like that. We were a little shell-shocked at first, but we never got completely down. We had to believe we could come back and win this game.”

It was truly an unforgettable and phenomenal moment not only for West Greene, but for all of Greene County.

I said this time and time again. I have seen a lot of good teams (no matter the sport) complete a stellar regular season only to lose in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. It’s hard to win in the postseason.

The travel is longer, the games are more intense and opponents just keep on getting better and better, round by round.

I had a lot of people come up to me at the beginning of the softball season, saying “Oh West Greene is going to states and are going to win it all.”

I had to constantly remind people that getting to the state final is an extremely hard thing to do. You can’t just wake up one day and be in the state final. It takes a lot of talent, and, yes, some lucky breaks to get to Happy Valley.

To get there two years in a row shouldn’t be just taken for granted. Winning and gaining that redemption at PSU is something that is truly amazing and all of the girls (along with their coaches) should be commended on a job WELL done.

They faced adversity, they overcame adversity and now they are champions. And I hate to say this, but I can’t wait for next spring. Should definitely be another intriguing softball season in Rogersville.