Wildcatville photo of Alex Hartmann, Linfield Softball player, 2nd base.See below for a great article about Linfield Softball from the 6/11/2011, McMinnville News-Register. However, Wildcatville protests the article’s headline, “Wildcats settle into afterglow.” PLU Scene for Winter 2003 explains that “afterglow” follows all PLU football games. Afterglow is described as a “gathering in the hundreds including players, coaches, parents and friends where hugs, compliments, love, laughter and tears flow in equal.” Thus, “afterglow” is definitely a PLU word to be avoided in any story solely about Linfield athletics.
By Carl Dubois, McMinnville N-R
More than two weeks have passed since Linfield wrapped up its most successful softball season with its second Division III national championship. The 2011 Wildcats understand they've left behind a standard that might be impossible to match.
Nobody has to tell that to outfielder Jaydee Baxter, who will be a senior on the next Linfield team to take the field.
"It's going to be hard to want to achieve or be satisfied with achieving any less than we did this year," Baxter said.
The ripples from that championship season continue. Emilee Lepp, the junior catcher who broke the Division III record for home runs with 29, is one of 11 finalists nationally for the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year Award.
Baxter, an emotional team leader who may well have set the record for hugs, said the first two weeks of the offseason were marked by reminders of Linfield's accomplishment.
"Life's pretty much back to normal," Baxter said, "but when I see people I haven't seen yet this summer, they talk to me about it and congratulate me.
"It's still pretty awesome. I still feel pretty excited about everything."
Claire Velaski, the senior pitcher who set the Linfield record for victories (25), won't get another shot at a championship. For Velaski and her classmates, this was it. After the Wildcats were national runners-up in 2010, returning players dedicated themselves to getting those seniors back to the championship game for one final try.
"We were happy we were able to do what we set out to do a year ago," Velaski said.
"We know that without the other classes, we wouldn't have been able to do it," she said, speaking for the departing seniors.
During Linfield's remarkable postseason run, during which the Wildcats outscored their opponents 99-9, the seniors from the 2010 team weren't far from the 2011 team's thoughts.
"They were talking to us throughout," Velaski said, "and they were so happy for us and so excited for us. They won a national championship when they were freshmen, and they wanted us to have that experience."
They got it, fighting through the losers bracket to win a series of elimination games before nailing down the championship May 24 in Salem, Va.
"The excitement of winning sunk in pretty quickly," Linfield coach Jackson Vaughan said at a celebration party on campus after the team returned from the championship finals.
"The big picture, what the team accomplished as a whole, winning 51 games and all the rest, that part didn't sink in right away for me. When you have a chance to reflect and go through it and look over the stats, you say 'Wow' because of what they were able to accomplish."
At a May 27 gathering in the Ice Auditorium, city and school administrators rattled off a long list of records and statistical milestones from the 2011 season. The Wildcats kept a small research staff busy checking for necessary updates to the record books.
Lepp's power surge helped Linfield break its own Division III record with 103 home runs in a season. The list of other superlatives is a long one, so much so that each speaker at the on-campus tribute to the Wildcats had plenty of material.
Consistency is one of the feats. Linfield won its eighth consecutive Northwest Conference championship on the way to a second national title in five seasons. The Wildcats have become so dominant, the question arises: Why is Linfield so good in softball?
"Jackson is incredible," Velaski said, crediting the coach. "He puts so much time and effort into making the team the best that it can be. He puts countless hours into scouting and watching film and making us watch our own film and practice - and just everything."
Players said Vaughan recruits players with that kind of work ethic.
"Because there's an aura of hard work," Velaski said, "I'm not surprised that we have success."
Vaughan expanded the circle of credit.
"The support we get in athletics is really good," he said. "I think we've been fortunate to get some really good players. Part of it is picking the right people, and to some extent it's also being a little bit lucky."
For example, even those who expected Lepp to have a good season could not have projected her record-setting power display.
The coach knows this type of success changes things. Linfield's 2007 national championship produced joy, because it was a first for the Wildcats. This time? Yes, the emotions were similar, he said, but there was an extra dimension by virtue of Linfield's No. 1 preseason ranking.
"That put some pressure on us," Vaughan said, "so there was that aspect too, almost like there was some relief when we won it, that we were able to get it done with such expectations on us."
The flight home came with its own punctuation mark that drove home the achievement.
"There were fire trucks that sprayed water over our plane," Baxter said, "and once we got into town we got a police escort to the campus, and everyone was waiting outside of our bus. It was all pretty incredible."
She thought about it some more.
"It's been a ride," Baxter said.
She wasn't talking about the bus or the plane.
More than two weeks have passed since Linfield wrapped up its most successful softball season with its second Division III national championship. The 2011 Wildcats understand they've left behind a standard that might be impossible to match.
Nobody has to tell that to outfielder Jaydee Baxter, who will be a senior on the next Linfield team to take the field.
"It's going to be hard to want to achieve or be satisfied with achieving any less than we did this year," Baxter said.
The ripples from that championship season continue. Emilee Lepp, the junior catcher who broke the Division III record for home runs with 29, is one of 11 finalists nationally for the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year Award.
Baxter, an emotional team leader who may well have set the record for hugs, said the first two weeks of the offseason were marked by reminders of Linfield's accomplishment.
"Life's pretty much back to normal," Baxter said, "but when I see people I haven't seen yet this summer, they talk to me about it and congratulate me.
"It's still pretty awesome. I still feel pretty excited about everything."
Claire Velaski, the senior pitcher who set the Linfield record for victories (25), won't get another shot at a championship. For Velaski and her classmates, this was it. After the Wildcats were national runners-up in 2010, returning players dedicated themselves to getting those seniors back to the championship game for one final try.
"We were happy we were able to do what we set out to do a year ago," Velaski said.
"We know that without the other classes, we wouldn't have been able to do it," she said, speaking for the departing seniors.
During Linfield's remarkable postseason run, during which the Wildcats outscored their opponents 99-9, the seniors from the 2010 team weren't far from the 2011 team's thoughts.
"They were talking to us throughout," Velaski said, "and they were so happy for us and so excited for us. They won a national championship when they were freshmen, and they wanted us to have that experience."
They got it, fighting through the losers bracket to win a series of elimination games before nailing down the championship May 24 in Salem, Va.
"The excitement of winning sunk in pretty quickly," Linfield coach Jackson Vaughan said at a celebration party on campus after the team returned from the championship finals.
"The big picture, what the team accomplished as a whole, winning 51 games and all the rest, that part didn't sink in right away for me. When you have a chance to reflect and go through it and look over the stats, you say 'Wow' because of what they were able to accomplish."
At a May 27 gathering in the Ice Auditorium, city and school administrators rattled off a long list of records and statistical milestones from the 2011 season. The Wildcats kept a small research staff busy checking for necessary updates to the record books.
Lepp's power surge helped Linfield break its own Division III record with 103 home runs in a season. The list of other superlatives is a long one, so much so that each speaker at the on-campus tribute to the Wildcats had plenty of material.
Consistency is one of the feats. Linfield won its eighth consecutive Northwest Conference championship on the way to a second national title in five seasons. The Wildcats have become so dominant, the question arises: Why is Linfield so good in softball?
"Jackson is incredible," Velaski said, crediting the coach. "He puts so much time and effort into making the team the best that it can be. He puts countless hours into scouting and watching film and making us watch our own film and practice - and just everything."
Players said Vaughan recruits players with that kind of work ethic.
"Because there's an aura of hard work," Velaski said, "I'm not surprised that we have success."
Vaughan expanded the circle of credit.
"The support we get in athletics is really good," he said. "I think we've been fortunate to get some really good players. Part of it is picking the right people, and to some extent it's also being a little bit lucky."
For example, even those who expected Lepp to have a good season could not have projected her record-setting power display.
The coach knows this type of success changes things. Linfield's 2007 national championship produced joy, because it was a first for the Wildcats. This time? Yes, the emotions were similar, he said, but there was an extra dimension by virtue of Linfield's No. 1 preseason ranking.
"That put some pressure on us," Vaughan said, "so there was that aspect too, almost like there was some relief when we won it, that we were able to get it done with such expectations on us."
The flight home came with its own punctuation mark that drove home the achievement.
"There were fire trucks that sprayed water over our plane," Baxter said, "and once we got into town we got a police escort to the campus, and everyone was waiting outside of our bus. It was all pretty incredible."
She thought about it some more.
"It's been a ride," Baxter said.
She wasn't talking about the bus or the plane.
