After coming so close a season ago, the McNeese State softball team officially began the long climb back to the postseason Monday.

Practice for the new campaign began despite the cold weather for the three-time defending Southland Conference Tournament champs.

However, with a chance to reach a Super Regional for the first time in program history, the Cowgirls could not get the final out against Washington last May.

McNeese let a six-run lead slip away when Washington scored seven times in the seventh to crush the Cowgirls’ hopes.

“I don’t know if you ever get over that, but you hopefully learn from it,” said McNeese head coach James Landreneau.

Monday the Cowgirls began to put that tough lesson to work.

“This group is not content with the success from last year,” said Landreneau. “They are not satisfied. They have a great work ethic and want more.”

McNeese returns 17 letterwinners, including seven position starters and four pitchers from a club that won a program-record 47 games. The Cowgirls still only have four seniors on the roster and did not lose a player to the transfer portal after the season.

“I think that says a lot for our program,” said Landraneau. “When players get here they seem to like it and stay.”

McNeese added nine freshmen to go with 14 sophomores on the roster. The Cowgirls do have to replace ace hurler Whitney Tate and outfielder Alayis Seneca however.

“To be so young and still have success is great,” said Landreneau. “Our culture is players pass on their knowledge and love for the game.”

Tate will be the biggest loss to fill. She was 18-4 with a 1.25 earned run average last season while throwing 166.1 innings. Seneca led the team in hitting at .373 and scored 34 runs.

“You can’t replace a player like Whitney with one person,” said Landreneau. “You need a couple of people to step up. We will be more of pitching by committee this season.”

Senior Ashley Vallejo should help fill Tate’s role. Vallejo led the Cowgirls with 19 wins last season in 28 decisions, including seven shutouts over 152.1 innings. She led the team with 112 strikeouts, her second straight season with over 100.

Shortstop Reese Reyna is the top returning hitter to the lineup. Reyna hit the walk-off home run in McNeese’s SLC tourney title-game victory over rival Southeastern.

The junior was the tournament MVP and earned second-team honors from both the Southland and Louisiana Sports Writers. She hit .309, scoring 34 runs and stealing 25 bases.

McNeese will once again have a tough national schedule which will include two games against preseason No. 1 Oklahoma. The Sooners are part of a 13-game opening homestand that starts Feb. 8 against the University of California.

“We like to play the best competition we can to expose our weaknesses early in the year and try to fix them,” said Landreneau. “When we lose a game we focus and what we didn’t do and try to correct that later.

“That is how you get better, but testing yourself early so you are prepared for big situations later.”

The Cowgirls hope that they can get back to a regional final and this time finish with a title.