Softball team had sights set on 'Bama' early on

The Eastern Florida State College softball team set a goal of making history in the first couple of practices this season.

It was after an early practice that the team decided to write Bama on the inside of their visor to always be reminded of the goal.

On Tuesday evening that goal became a reality as the Titans received one of the at-large teams to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Oxford, Alabama.

"Our first two practices we came out really hard and then had a rough practice and coach said let's go write Bama on your visor so you always have a goal to look up to," sophomore catcher Emma George said. "It means a lot, to have our names written down as the first team to make the national tournament."

And now that they are in the national tournament, the team is ready to play some more games as they begin the national tournament on Monday afternoon against Trinity Valley Community College.

"We want to win it all, we have worked so hard and this was the goal so we are not going to stop now, going to keep pushing," sophomore shortstop Isabel Otero said. "We went through a lot last year and a lot of teams put us down and didn't think we were very good so we wanted to prove everybody wrong and we couldn't get it done last year so we wanted to go out and show that we can do it."

The team had a big regular season, setting a program record with 44 wins and came into the FCSAA D1 Softball Championships as the No. 5 seed. They made a run and played for the South Atlantic B Bracket title, falling to No. 2 seed Northwest Florida State College 1-0 in eight innings.

That propelled them into an at-large spot and into the national tournament for the first time.

"This was our ultimate goal, we had other goals but this was the ultimate goal," Eastern Florida State College softball coach Andrew Zeger said. "We really believed that we had the team and the coaching staff to get there and as a coach I am just proud of this team."