USF softball season ends with loss in NCAA regional final, but what a season it was

Of the 64 teams that qualified for the NCAA Division I softball tournament, 63 of them were going to end their seasons with a loss. That's the perspective USF needs to keep in mind after the Bulls were eliminated 10-2 Sunday by Arkansas in the Fayetteville regional final.

Playing the Razorbacks in their home park was always going to be a difficult assignment. Arkansas is seeded 5th nationally in the tournament and has its mind set squarely on a trip to the Women's College World Series.

Still, even coming up short against the Hogs doesn't change that, by any measure, the Bulls were a smashing success this season. They won 44 games, shared the regular-season American Conference title, and won the conference tournament. They won two games in the regional over favored Washington from the Big Ten.

And the two starting pitchers USF went to in the regional -- Anne Long and Carley Ernst -- are sophomores.

They do lose mainstays Alexa Galligani, Olivia Elliott, and Kathy Garcia-Soto, along with pitcher Belle Sardja. But of the 28 players on this season's roster, 22 can return next year. Key pieces like DaNia Brooks, Alex Brooks, Karhys Pierce, and Toryn Fulton are back.

And if anyone believes head coach Ken Eriksen has lost a step after 29 years as the head coach, watching his eruption Saturday night against Washington would have put that thought to rest.

He went bonkers after third base umpire Shawn Shumacher ruled malicious contact by Fulton for running into Washington third baseman Giselle Alvarez on a stolen-base attempt. After the call was upheld by video review, Eriksen angrily followed Shumacher back to his post while shouting and pointing at him.

It looked to me like the eruption had been building all day. In the first game Saturday against Arkansas, Long had to pitch to a strike zone that apparently had no corner. Pitches that had been strikes most of the year werre called balls, forcing her to come in with more hittable tosses, and Arkansas pounced.

Eriksen also appeared irked about several check swing calls. But it's also a sign that he has his players' backs and they have his. The Bulls came from behind to eliminate Washington, setting up Sunday's final.

Eriksen said before this season even started that the Bulls could be special. They proved him correct.

"One of the biggest things was when we went to Puerto Rico this summer, I saw that team bond together with the new kids on the team, and then getting involved in doing clinics and stuff in the cultural aspect for a lot of the communities in Puerto Rico," he said.

"I saw them come together on the outside of the field, like I've never seen a team come out of it before. 
So whether it was being in a different environment on an island out in the Caribbean that was predominantly a different language, where they had to go and try to learn a language, but also embrace the culture," he said.

"I saw them bond really well, liking each other in the dugout, liking each other in a locker room, I think really boded well for what we saw in the fall, and that's why I said what I said in January. "

And with everything the Bulls have coming back, there's a good chance he will say the same thing next January, too.

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