JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two local college softball teams are having historic seasons.
UNF and St. Johns River State College are starting their quests to hopefully win national championships in their respective leagues.
The teams are reaching huge milestones for their respective programs.
UNF is making its NCAA Division I Tournament debut Friday after winning its very first Atlantic Sun Conference championship.
SJR State is hoping to defend its national title as the team is heading back to the World Series in its league. The Vikings won it all last season.
The UNF Ospreys played in the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time as they got the automatic bid for winning their first A-Sun title.
UNF took on Virginia at 3 p.m. Friday at the Columbia Regional in South Carolina as they made their quest for a national title in this historic season.
Two-way star Allison Benning was the conference tournament’s MVP. She’s also the A-Sun player of the year and pitcher of the year.
Benning is one home run shy of becoming the second player in NCAA Division I history to rack up 20 wins as a starting pitcher and 20 homers at the plate in a single season.
Head coach Jeff Conrad is the conference’s coach of the year, and seven of the players earned A-Sun postseason honors.
All of this is a big deal for catcher Kirsten Caravaca.
“When we won [the A-Sun tournament championship], it was just like I started crying because I was so happy,” Caravaca said. “It was like a redemption tour from our loss last year with the seniors and how close we were. I was just very happy and excited to make program history for the first time and just like break all of these records and just prove to everyone that we deserve all of our accomplishments.”
More than an hour away from UNF’s campus, the St. Johns River State College Vikings in Palatka are about to start their journey to try and defend their national title.
The team is heading back to the NJCAA Division II World Series with a record-breaking 47 regular-season wins this year.
The Vikings are the reigning champs as they won the title last season for the first time in program history.
Head coach Joe Pound says this team is primed to repeat.
“We talked last year about changing the dynamics of this program in setting new standards and that kind of stuff,” Pound said. “It means a lot for this program to get to go back and try to defend the title.”
He said chemistry, experience and passion are some of the reasons he thinks the team is primed to be successful in defending its title.
“Hard work and competitiveness,” Pound said. “This group is very special, and the fact that no matter what the score is late in the game, if we have an at-bat, we feel that we can go out and score some runs.”
SJR State is leaving for Oxford, Alabama, on Saturday morning for the World Series.
The Vikings are the No. 1 seed for the first time and have a bye to start the tournament.
Their first game is at 11 a.m. Central Time on Tuesday, but they must wait to find out who their opponent will be.
UNF and SJR State are ready to add their names to the history books for their respective programs.
