Coaches Corner for May 29th: Bob Ligouri, DMACC Softball

Joining us on coach's corner, KWBG, get a chance to wrap up the DMACC softball season. Bob Ligori and I were just kind of visiting off air. And I tell you what, we, I don't even know where to start story wise. I guess where I'm going to start is 60 and 12 and the national runner up and first off coach. So what a tremendous time. And I can't just say South Carolina cause you ended up in North Carolina when you finished the tournament. But boy, I think the Carolinas and DMACC seem to be pretty friendly. Well, it was a, it was an interesting last two weeks for the year, Ryan, when you stop and think we could be geography teachers because we, you know, we were in Montana and then Glenn died in Montana. And then drove third cross North Dakota, had two days rest and drove to South Carolina, played the first two games of the tournament or first two days of the tournament down there. Reigns came in and then we ended up finishing out the tournament of the Gardner Web University in North Carolina. So you put all those miles on that team and you know, it's been quite a journey geographically but even more importantly, what a journey to watch some young women come together and just play their hearts out. And it was just, it was just an incredible joy to just be a part of it. All right. So take me back, Bob, you get the opening round win. Kirk would get you in round two, eight to three. You guys, you know, you don't have too long to whine and complain and darn this, this is terrible and whatnot cause you had to come right back and play Lewisburg. What was the mindset you think coach in between Kirk would and then the Lewisburg game? You know, I don't even remember anything special going on in between because we came down there with the idea that we're going to play until they told us we, you know, we couldn't play anymore. And so like we, we lost to Kirkwood, but you know, anybody who watches, we used to have one bad inning against Kirkwood. Otherwise we, you know, we could have nailed then the first round. And so we came out of Kirkwood with, you know, really on an up and you know, we just said, hey, let's dig in and let's go and the players did that. I'd love to take credit for it. I know our other coaches did a tremendous job too, but you know, you're only going to go as far as which your players want their season to go. And I think, you know, if you talk to the players individually, they'll tell you the same thing. We used to want our season then. And that's because they're really close in it. And their culture was so tight. They just, they just wanted to keep playing. Well, and they did. And they was going to say, and they did because you get the, you get the five inning win there with 10 to one. Then the marathon starts coming because we try to start figuring out this rain and this weather and whatnot. So you beat state college of Florida on Friday, Bob, six to one, and then you're waiting for obviously the rematch with Kirkwood. So what was going on with the tournament officials? I know the weather wasn't going to be great. What was the conversations being had and kind of, where were you at with all the talk? Well, our biggest fear was that they would call it, you know, short in the tournament because of the weather and say, anybody who has a loss, you know, you're done. And that was our biggest worry was, you know, with the forecast the way it was. So honestly, Ryan, if they had told us to pack your bags and go to Mississippi to finish this out, we would have jumped at it because we just wanted to keep playing. So when they said that we got a chance to go to a Gardner Web over in North Carolina and play, you know, that was just a God send us. They have a beautiful facility. Frankly, the facility is much better than the one we were playing at. So we were in love with that place anyway. So it was not, we got on the bus and drove up there and the rest is history. So when it comes to trying to find a location like that, Bob, and I know you're not on the inside with the NJC AA, you know, when it comes to that stuff, but I mean, junior colleges for the most part are all done. That had to have been pretty difficult for them to find a location. Well, I think it was really difficult and they were in really tough spot, you know, because here you are, you know, Chris Robinson, who's a former coach at Jones and now headed up the tournament, you know, it's just really hard. And you got all these people coming in and you got everybody chirping in your ear about their ideas and stuff like that. So I thought they did a fantastic job of wrapping their arms around it. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but I thought they did a tremendous job and to pull that off and pull it off the way they did is a tribute to them and their commitment to women's softball. Well, you get the rematch then with Kirkwood and I'm gonna let you talk about it because I think we all know how it ended up with a three-zero win and a no-hitter. And my gosh, Bob, I mean, just about as perfect as you could be against Kirkwood, that's what we saw. Well, we felt, you know, we split with Kirkwood up there early in the year and I don't think either of us would say, either could team say we played real well, you know, on that day, then Kirkwood came to DMAC and boat raced us on our home field and that wasn't us. And we knew that and they knew that. And so I think, you know, historically, we're probably gonna plan those people five or six times and we weren't intimidated. They knew we weren't intimidated and we respected them, but we certainly weren't in awe of them. And like I said, Kira Junger is our pitcher. She had a look in her eye that just, I mean, it was a look of a warrior. And, you know, you could just see the look in our players and there's no intimidation or anything like that. We just wanted to play them again. And we did and they played, we played really well. Morgan Neroff hit a bomb and Kira said, that's enough. And then that was it. And, you know, then we moved on and played Jones. Well, I mean, you think about this, right? On that Sunday, we go from playing the number one seed in the country to the number two seed in the country to the number five seed, you know, or six. We go one, six, two. And all in a span of like six hours. So it was, it was an incredible experience. Well, and I was going to say, it's not time where you get a chance to sit down and let's go over a scouting report and let's talk about this and do we want to do this or this? I mean, you go right into the Jones game and let's be honest, Jones has been a little bit of a thorn in the side of DMACC when it's come to the, to the World Series. And you guys don't just mess around in that game. You guys take care of business. Five, zero to put you in line with Murray State. But Bob, that had to be a pretty satisfying win against Jones. It was a, it was a great win. And I, I gotta give a great deal of credit to, to Gary Gorman and, and baby Richards are two assistant coaches because they spent, they were up until three o'clock, you know, going over what scouting reports that we had and, and tapes, you know, that were online of, of the teams that we played. And I think, you know, from a standpoint of our coaches, staff and, and our players, we never went down there and thought that any different that we weren't going to prepare, you know, to keep playing. And, you know, some player, you know, some teams, and they just kind of throw up their hand and say, oh, let's just go play. No, those guys, you know, coach Richards, you know, called a, called a wonderful game and coach Gorman really helped with the positioning and stuff like that. And coach Heller was there to, to help position the defense on the infield. So, you know, it was fun because that's the way softball is supposed to be played at a high level. And when you have players that have the abilities and the commitment to execute, then good things can usually happen for you. Well, and then you get the dramatic victory against Murray State to, to put you in the national championship game against Pearl River Community College. A game coach you led one to zero until the bottom of the sixth inning. And we played lights out and honestly, we were within one play, probably in the fifth inning, bottom of the fifth, because we had bases loaded. And if we could have got just one, one hit or a pass ball or something like that, that thing, that game is going to be over, you know, because the way junglers was pitching. And then in the, in the sixth inning, you know, sometimes just things, we have two strikes out of batter and everybody in the place except the guy behind the plate thought it was a strike three and she walks and the next throw gets an awful hit and, you know, we lose two to one. So it's just kind of how it goes. But we were really, really, really pleased with the way we competed. And, you know, yeah, we had, we had some tears at the end, but the tears were joy because they knew they left it all in the field and, and we had, we'd earned an awful lot of respect for the people down there. I can't tell you how many times that tournament, people came up to me and say, I can't believe you guys are still here. And why are you guys still around? And, you know, and you look at it and you say, like, dude, you know, we play softball up north too, you know, and it's not like everybody else does and we don't. So, you know, I think there was some disrespect for us at the start. I think we got a lower seed than what we should have gotten to start with, honestly. And, yeah, I think it was, it was the right way. 60 and 12 final record, program record for victories in a season, Bob, it's a number. I hate to even throw this out in the universe. I feel like it's a number that may stand for many years, but who knows with you guys, you may find a way to pick up 61 next year and make me a fool, but what a tremendous seed. I mean, overall 72 games and to win 60 of them, Bob, I know that doesn't shock you because I know you know these ladies and you've been telling me raving about these girls since we started talking back in March. What a season though. Well, the thing that, you know, and I say this in tribute to our players is our schedule is the toughest in the country. No doubt. You know, we played, we played the number one ranked team at the time at our level three different times. So, we played Murray Statery in the year, lost him by one run. We lost to Kirkwood. We played Kirkwood four times and when they were ranked number one, and we lost to

Colin when they were ranked number one and we should have beat them. We lost to them three to two. So we played, we purposely played as tough a schedule as we could play. And then we played 15 division one schools. We won 12 of those. And I was telling you off the air of the 10 losses that we had, nine of them came to teams that played in their World Series. So it wasn't like, you know, we were, you know, we struck lightning in a bottle or something like that. You know, we played good people. We learned some hard lessons. You know, we made some mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Players do, coaches do, you know, not above it, but we learned from it. And then by the time at the end of the year, it was every coach's dream is I don't care what level you're at. You want your players to be playing at the highest level of their abilities at the most important time. And nobody can say that our kids didn't peak at the right time. And they, they are so proud because they wanted their season to continue. And they did whatever it took to make that happen. Bob, final thing for me. I'm not going to make you talk about each sophomore, but I know this will be a class that goes down potentially as maybe one of your best sophomore classes, which is nuts to say considering what has come through here. But I guess my last question for you, Bob, is how young do you feel right now after that many games in that time of span? Well, I tell you something, when you see the energy that these players played and just a couple of things about our sophomore classes, their overall record since they came to DMACC is was 115 wins and 18 losses. Wow. And the two years that they were at DMACC, there was never a week or a poll that they weren't ranked in the top 10. And so you looked at what they did on the field, that sophomore class. And then you also add to the fact that they're, when they graduated, we had 11 four points. And our team GPA was 3.73. So those, those, that class, and obviously the freshmen bought right in behind them, but that class bought in and did it the right way. And boy, I tell you what, like I told them afterwards, they're going to go on to some, probably some great things in softball and athletics and things, but they're going to remember this week by the rest of their life, even this season, because it was unbelievable. Bob, as always, thank you so much for some time. Congratulations on a fantastic season. I know you had a ton of people sharing back home for you. Thanks for some time this past year for coaches corner. Hey, thank you, Ryan, and, and really appreciate everything you do for the young women. It's fantastic. You bet. That's D-Max Off-Ball Head Coach Bob Legori on coaches corner.