When last season ended, James Landreneau said he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Shocked with a pair of losses in the Southland Conference softball tournament, Landreneau’s Cowgirls didn’t even make it to the title game.

McNeese State’s run of NCAA Tournament appearances was over at three.

More than that, Landreneau’s club was losing much of the talent that had taken it to within an out of a super regional the year before.

A surprise decision not to play by the team’s leading home run hitter in the fall proved another speed bump. Another setback was an injury to last season’s Freshman of the Year, Moss Bluff’s Alexis Dibbley.

For the first time since the turn of the century, McNeese softball had more questions than answers as midseason approached.

“I wasn’t sure how good we would be,” Landreneau said. “I know we had talent, but I also knew we were young. You never know how young players react under pressure.”

Landreneau found out the hard way as McNeese struggled early. Twenty-seven games into the season, the Cowgirls stood at 14-13.

“I knew I was going to have to be patient with this group, and that isn’t easy for me,” he admitted.

McNeese lost is first SLC series as Lamar took two of three.

“We weren’t playing good softball for a long time,” Landreneau said. “We had to mature as a team.”

His patience paid off when games mattered most.

After a run-rule loss to open a crucial series at Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese found itself three games out of first place behind the Lions. While Landreneau might have been ready to trash the locker room in rage, he instead saw his players take over and convene a meeting in the outfield after the loss.

What followed was a completely different club.

McNeese won the second game that day and took the series 24 hours later, reducing the SELA lead back to one game. Since then, the Cowgirls have won 17 of 18, losing only to nationally LSU in Baton Rouge.

“We just came together and said this is not how we want to go out,” senior shortstop Reese Reyna said. “It was time for the players to speak up. Nothing coach could have said would have been different. He got us here; it was up to us to finish.”

Led by two freshmen pitchers and six new players on the field, the Cowgirls did what they had done for the previous three years: win the SLC regular-season championship.

They also won three consecutive games in the postseason by way of walk-off to advance to the title series against the very same Southeastern team. The one difference is that this series will be played at home.

The three walk-offs have come in three quite different ways. First, an actual walk forced in the winning run. Then, a single up the middle and finally, a two-run homer.

However, it’s how Landreneau, who won his fourth league Coach of the Year award, maneuvered this group through a most impressive and really tough start. In doing so, he got his team to 40 wins for a fourth consecutive year, something nobody would have seen coming six weeks ago.

“What I’m most proud of is how these players took control of the team,” Landreneau said. “It’s always better when the players take the leadership role and that’s what this team has done.”

And while the season may be far from over, it’s likely Landreneau’s personal best with the Cowgirls.

“I don’t know about that, but I do like who we have grown and become a team,” he said. “You have to credit the players and what they have done.”

And they don’t believe they are finished.

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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com