Saints softball: Champions again

The Mt. Hood softball team won the 2022 NWAC championship tournament last Sunday in Spokane, another proud moment in the Saints’ rich history.

During their first full season back, after a forced pandemic hiatus, the Saints rose through the ranks of the Northwest Athletic Conference and clinched a playoff spot following a five-game win streak, which turned into a 10-game streak as they won each of their tournament games. They eventually beat the Bellevue Bulldogs in the final round of the championship 8-7 in extra innings (eight innings), after coming back from a 6-0 deficit.

Saints players said they were nervous going into the playoffs. Mt. Hood had been in the final round of the tournament nine times since 2000, winning five of those, but the 2022 team has newer blood. All the women had yet to compete in this daunting tournament and have only been together at Mt. Hood for just six months, up to a year – including those who would end up being MVPs for the championship.

Despite the nerves and anxiety going into this hard-earned experience, the team was also just thrilled and excited to be part of something so special. In the words of one player, the Saints rolled into Spokane last week “Pumped. Ecstatic. Loud.”

Head Coach Brittany Hendrickson said it best: “I felt confident that our team would compete and were prepared as best they could be,” she said. And that’s all you could ask for. Even as terrifying as it may have seemed going in, the Saints knew they could come out on top.

In the words of hard-hitting shortstop Leslie Main, “Our heart [was] unmatched,” and that’s what got them through.

The energy and excitement of the team aided in increasing their level of confidence. They had special team events the week leading into NWAC tournament that increased the chemistry of the team, and their final practice on the field of their first tournament game helped them gain comfort in the environment.

Their victory against Southwestern Oregon (SWOCC) in their third-round game – their South Division rivals were the tournament No. 1 seed – gave many of the Saints the confidence boost they needed.

“After beating SWOCC,” explained centerfielder McKenzie Kosmicki, “we knew we could win the whole thing.”

As the weekend in Spokane wore on, the team’s self-belief improved game-by-game.

“[I] made the plays that needed to be made,” said Matlyn Leetch, second base/utility infielder. “I did my job in the lineup.”

The final, title-winning game is something the Saints will remember for years to come. For perspective on their positive attitude, Leetch explained that after the first two Mt. Hood batters made outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t have to put her glove back. She just knew their last three batters would pull through for the win – and they did. Those batters being, Hope Burke, Hailey Davis (the tournament MVP) and Kosmicki, the latter driving in Burke with a hit to right field to win the game.

After their big win, the players couldn’t believe what they had just accomplished, many of them feeling like they were in a dream. One said that an outsider couldn’t have known they had just had a championship win, because of all their exhausted faces on the long drive home – it might have seemed like they had lost, instead. But big wins can take the life out of even the strongest players, and that’s just a testimony to the heart and soul that these players put into each play, against every team they went up against. That’s the feeling of victory.

Some of the players and “Coach B” shared some of the most memorable parts of their trip. Leetch said her favorite memory was hugging her teammates and coaches after their final game and watching Coach B as she facetimed her parents at a Sonic drive-in after the game, with the biggest smile on her face as she told them about their win.

For Main, it was seeing her family after winning the whole thing.

“I started bawling my eyes out because I was so happy,” the shortstop said. “Hugging the people that have been there throughout this whole journey will forever lie as one of my favorite memories.”

For Hendrickson, it was seeing pitcher/outfielder Marley Johnson – who pitched seven strong innings in relief in the Bellevue game, allowing the Saints to come back – participate in the Spokane Lilac Festival’s evening parade the night before.

“After pitching us into the championship game, she was in a parade as the Happy Canyon Princess (on behalf of the Pendleton Roundup) representing her Native heritage (Walla Walla-Cayuse-Nez Perce),’ the coach said. “ It was such an amazing experience to get to have with our team.”

Hendrickson said she’s proud to be the Saints’ coach, and not just as NWAC champions, but in her words, because “…they are also all amazing individuals who have represented Mt. Hood CC with such class, sportsmanship, and pride!”

Their weekend in Spokane was no easy task – two games with major deficits, five different opponents, and ultimately only won champion of it all. The Saints took that win with everything they had.

As their shortstop, Main, put it, “This sport is heartbreaking sometimes, but moments like these make it all worth it.”