Lady Lions are 11th seed going into the nationals:
GDW Analysis:
HANCEVILLE: Wallace State Community College is in a regular routine at this time of the year in the softball season.
By winning the NJCAA South district championship on Mothers' Day weekend, the Lady Lions punched their ticket to the nationals for the fourth consecutive year.
Coach Lauren Stewart's Lady Lions earned an 11th seed in the pairings. Wallace State meets Salt Lake of Utah, the 6th seed in the first round Monday from Choccolocco Park in Oxford at 5:00 p.m. CST.
Wallace State has a 35 & 12 record in Stewart's first year running the ball club. She replaced coach Carson Owens on February 4 when he submitted his resignation via social media.
The Lady Lions went through the 2024 season of battling adversity with some injuries and trying to maintain consistency as 9 were back for their sophomore season.
A 3 game losing streak came up on the team after they won the season opener February 7 at Volunteer State.
Six losses were experienced by the squad through 16 games in
the opening month.
The Lady Lions went through a rare status, losing the conference opener and losing it at Bobby McCracken Stadium.
A 7 game winning streak came to the team in March as did a long period of no games. Wallace swept Southern Union on March 16 and would not play again until the 4th day of April. The new month started with a loss at Shelton State. Shelton was the only team to split a 4 game series with the conference champion, going 1 & 1 against them in Hanceville, 2 days after a split in Tuscaloosa.
Northwest Shoals opened a series with Wallace, getting a 6 to 5 victory at home April 25.
That was the last time defeat stood in front of the Lady Lions.
Wallace would finish the conference regular season with 7 consecutive victories, moving past Coastal South to get the top seed going into the district tournament.
In 3 games of the district from Alabaster, Wallace State toppled Northwest Shoals 11 to 2, Snead 5 to 3 and 3 to 0 in the title game vs. Southern Union,
The 10 game winning streak is a season high for Stewart's squad. Wallace was 19 & 5 in the division standings. Their overall winning percentage is .744.
From March to May, Wallace State compiled 25 wins in its last 31 games, a winning clip of .806. As the season moved along, so did the chemistry for the team with Stewart, who served as an assistant in 2023 with Wallace winning 52 of 59 decisions.
Through the district tournament, the Lady Lions have a share of impact players in various categories.
Sophomore Caroline Carton is 3rd in the league, hitting .412 on the season.
Sophomore Laura Leigh Wheeler led in runs batted in with 57 while freshman Bayleigh Rouse accounted with 51.
Three of the top five home run hitters wore Wallace uniforms.
Wheeler took top honors, connecting on 17, Rouse 2nd with 14 and sophomore Jessi Taylor tied for 4th at 13.
Pitching got better in the later stage of the season as illustrated by Lily Boswell leading the conference with a 2.18 ERA.
Katie Simon was 3rd at 2.78 and her sister Emily tied for 4th with an ERA of 2.84.
Katie Simon had 2 good outings in the district tournament to earn MVP honors. She allowed 2 runs in 14 innings and struck out 18.
Simon would be 3rd in season wins with 11, Boswell 4th in the conference with 10.
Simon's 103 strikeouts gave her 3rd in the conference statistics.
Through 2 years playing at Wallace, the Simon sisters, Cartron, Taylor, Wheeler, McKinnon Howard, Emily Hall, Amelia Sherrill and Tessa Word have enjoyed 87 victories in 106 games, a winning percentage of .820.
Staying focused and showing the other teams in the conference they were not ready to see someone push them aside is a good way of analyzing Wallace State softball for 2024.
Now they look to the upcoming week in trying to maintain the momentum that has embraced them since April 25.
Photo of Wallace State SB celebrating in winning the NJCAA
South District May 11 at Veterans Park in Alabaster.
Photo courtesy of WSCC Media Relations.
