Down to its final out against Berry College (Ga.), Salisbury softball needed a miracle.
The Sea Gulls were competing in the 11th Division III College World Series of program history but found themselves in a 4-0 hole with a trip to the CWS finals on the line.
Salisbury had gone on a tear in the loser’s bracket to get to the Vikings, needing to beat them twice to get to the finals. A 7-2 win earlier on June 4 forced a winner-take-all rematch later on in the day, but their run was nearly for nothing.
However, the Sea Gulls rattled off some two-out magic, tying the game at four before senior Lauren Meyers walked the game off with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
Aspirations of a national title were fully in focus. Salisbury met Trine in a best-of-three final that came down to Game 3 on June 7. A walk-off ended the Sea Gulls’ season in the bottom of the seventh inning, a 1-0 loss that marked a bittersweet end for Salisbury.
“There’s nothing else that you could ask for being one of the last two teams standing for D-III softball,” sophomore Carrie Jacoby said. “We did fall short and we were all upset about it, but I think that’s going to drive us next year.”
The 2023 team was one for the record books. The Sea Gulls ended the season with a program-record 49 wins, the fourth-highest single-season winning percentage (.891) in program history, their 21st conference championship and their fourth national runner-up finish.
Offensively, Salisbury was third in the country with 355 runs scored, tied for fifth with 42 home runs and 32nd with a .337 team batting average.
Defensively, the Sea Gulls were fourth in fielding percentage at .979. In the circle, Salisbury posted a 1.41 team ERA, a top-10 mark in the nation.
“I think that going into the season, we had very high expectations,” head coach Lacey Lord said. “We talked about it a lot, about winning the national championship and having an opportunity to play for that. … We knew we were going to have a good team. We got to where we wanted and we got to play for what we wanted to play for.”
There wasn’t a weak spot for Salisbury this season, but their success started in the circle. The Sea Gulls primarily used the trio of Lindsey Windsor, Nicole Ortega and Savannah Sheats, with those three accounting for the majority of the team’s 353.2 innings pitched in 2023.
All three posted ERAs of 1.36 or lower, but it was the senior Windsor who once again stood out most. She matched her junior year success with near-identical numbers, going 18-2 with a 1.14 ERA and 12 complete games in a team-high 147 innings pitched.
“In the dugout, we have this group called ‘The Voices’ and every pitch. We’re screaming, cheering her on,” Jacoby said. “I lose my voice almost every game. … She did absolutely amazing on the mound and we couldn’t have asked any more out of her.”
Windsor was just as dangerous at the plate, hitting .396/.444/.677 with nine home runs and 55 RBIs in 53 games played.
Jacoby was part of the offensive onslaught of the Sea Gulls as well. She put together a breakout sophomore year that saw her hit .407/.460/.611 with 15 extra-base hits and 15 runs scored. Her batting average increased by more than 130 points . Her OPS went up by more than 300 points. Her runs scored tripled. Her extra-base hits more than doubled.
There were certainly a number of individual standouts for Salisbury, but what kept the team going throughout the season was a strong team culture and chemistry that rivaled any previous season Lord has been at the helm.
“At the end of the day, I think what kept us going was our culture,” Lord said. “Our team camaraderie and the way that our team competed every single day against each other in a healthy competition, the culture that was established helped us grow and set us apart. … Our team last year was really close too, but this team was special, that’s for sure.”
The team’s belief in future success formed in the fall and continued through the offseason, into the preseason and throughout the regular season. A 16-0 start didn’t hurt, either.
“We were putting up runs against each other [in fall ball], but at the same time, our best pitchers were striking out our best hitters,” Jacoby said. “… As the season kept going on and our bats got hotter, we just knew.”
That belief made the end result of the 2023 season all the more heartbreaking, with players breaking down on the field following the winner-take-all Game 3.
Seniors who had just played their last game with Salisbury embraced teammates who would be returning next season. Coaches consoled players as they gathered once more for a quick postgame conference.
The sentiment was overwhelmingly saddening, but the team hopes that it will help fuel next season’s team to finish the job.
“It was hard to talk,” Lord said. “When they walked off the field, it was silent for a few minutes because we were all in utter shock. In those moments, it’s really hard to see the sun through the clouds, but after we debriefed, it was just reminding them that we were able to have a profound effect on other younger people, other young women. … I know this, they’re going to be very hungry.”
Photo Credit: Joey Gardner/FotoJoe Photography