TYLER, Texas — The UT Tyler Patriots won their third consecutive Regional title win a 3-0 victory over Oklahoma Christian and are headed back to the NCAA DII World Series, in Longwood, Florida.
The Patriots got their South Central Regional winning streak started when they claimed a win over St. Mary's, followed by a huge win over Colorado Christian 12-1, and rounded out the tournament with a win over Colorado Mesa.
With the recent history of their program, you know how tough they were gonna be and they certainly did not disappoint.
"If you just tune in and look at the score, that's not going to be indicative of the game. I mean, they're the bases loaded, they're late in the game as a big strikeout to get out of that any inning," head coach Mike Reed said. "Really, really proud of the players."
Then they hosted the South Central Super Regional round and took on Oklahoma Christian. The Patriots won game one of the best of three series 6-3, then followed that with a hard fought 3-0 game two win to advance to the world series.
"We're just very blessed, especially to be a place like this, as you watch the game at the beautiful Irwin ballpark," Coach Reed said. "Also, continuing the legacy, that is the program and what's been done before this, and so couldn't be more proud of the players, how they carried themselves and how they play, I think this time of year, I tell them all the time, who they are is as much about what they are."
The Patriots have unbelievable depth on their team and have a strong offense and defense to round it out.
"Coach always says just trust your defense, trust your pitches. And that's what I did. My defense was phenomenal. Our offense jumped on real quick," Pitcher Christin Haygood said. "I couldn't ask for a better team, our coaching staff, I really lean on them at times like this with great hitting teams that have great defense and great pitching. And that's what I had to do in this game. And they pulled through."
There were many highlights throughout this series, but the main one was on defense. Utility player JT Smith had multiple diving catches to end innings against Oklahoma Christian. Her athleticism captured the attention of everyone at Irwin field.
"We know we're a very good defensive group, we practice that every day. That's probably one of the things that we practice the most in practice," Smith said. "So we know that if we can do it there, we're going to do it 10 times better in the game. So any routine plays or not routine plays, we're going to make it look routine. That's just how we do it every day."
UT Tyler will face off with Augustana Sunday, May 19 at 3 p.m. in Longwood, Florida.