Having completed an unbelievable regular season, Owens Community College’s softball team has taken
another step towards becoming the most decorated softball team in school history.
The Express, 39-3 overall, have advanced to the NJCAA Division II national tournament in Normal, Ill.
Owens was scheduled to open play in the double-elimination tournament this morning at 10 against Mineral
Area, Mo.
This marks the second trip to the national tournament for Owens. The team previously reached finished
fifth in 2005.
After finishing the regular season 36-2, the eighth-ranked Express captured the Region XII District G
championship by defeating No. 19 Kalamazoo Valley Community College two out of three games in the
championship round.
"Our region has two of the teams ranked in the top 20 nationally," Owens head coach Duane
Lanham said in a telephone interview. "That says a lot about our region."
With the difficulty of the region and regular-season schedule, the Express are no stranger to the level
of competition that they will see during the national tournament.
Owens, seeded fourth, defeated national tournament qualifiers Sauk Valley Community College (ninth seed)
and Mercyhurst College North East (10th seed) in the regular season.
The Express defeated those two opponents by a combined 14 runs.
Owens was also scheduled to face national tournament qualifier Oakland Community College (15th seed), but
those games were canceled due to inclement weather.
"We know it’s going to be tough," Lanham said. "But it helps to know what we’ll face this
week in what should be the best 16 teams in the country."
The only possible blemish the Express see this year is they failed to win the Ohio Community College
Athletic Conference championship outright.
After starting the season with an unprecedented 33-0 record, Owens went 3-2 in its final five regular
season games with both losses coming to Lakeland Community College.
The two conference losses resulted in an OCCAC co-championship with LCC for the Express, who finished 6-2
in the conference.
But in the regional tournament Owens got back to its usual combination of outstanding hitting and
pitching to advance to nationals.
"We’re not going to change things," Lanham said. "We’re going to continue to make
adjustments to the other teams."
Lanham said that the Express will likely use all five of their pitchers throughout the tournament whether
it be starting or out of the bullpen.
They will also look for key hits out of every part of the lineup.
"That’s what’s nice about this team," Lanham said. "You don’t know who is going to produce
at any certain time. We’ll look to scrape together hits along with some good pitching, and hopefully
that will bring us home victorious.
"We’ve got as good a shot as anybody (to win) as long as we play our brand of ball."