SEATTLE — This time last year, the University of Washington softball team was getting ready to embark on a 24-day, three-city road trip that culminated in the program’s first national championship.
The destination was as good as it gets, but the journey certainly had its rough points. In addition to traveling almost 7,000 miles in a span of three-and-a-half weeks, the Huskies had to take final exams in hotel rooms and live out of a suitcase for most of May.
And the worst part about the long distance trips?
“It was hard to find a place to get our hair done,” senior and star pitcher Danielle Lawrie said Tuesday.
That won’t be a problem this week.
When the top-ranked Huskies (45-6) begin their defense of last year’s national championship on Friday night, they’ll have all the advantages of home sweet home — whether that means a rabid fan base, the comfort of their own dugout or a new ‘do from a familiar hairstylist.
Thanks to stadium lights that have been erected at the UW softball complex since last year’s title game, the Huskies now have the capability to host an NCAA regional. UW will play its first home postseason game since 2000 when it opens play Friday against North Dakota State.
“We’re excited to be able to host this round of the NCAAs,” coach Heather Tarr said Tuesday. “It being 10 years since we got to host last time, we’ve really seen some people come out of the woodwork.”
Tickets for this weekend’s games might be hard to come by, due in part to the historical implications but also because of the fan base that the UW softball program has built since last year’s title. But the Huskies’ scopes are pointed squarely on the near future, rather than the past, as Tarr has banned words like “repeat” and “defend” from the team’s vocabulary.
And when Tarr does refer to last season’s run, she can’t help but to wonder whether there is such a thing as homefield advantage.
“When you’re at home, you say yes; when you’re on the road, you say no,” she said. “The way that we know how to prepare, and the student-athletes in our program know how to prepare, they’re adaptable. They’re flexible, they’re accountable. And, really, when you have those things, it doesn’t matter whether you’re on the road or you’re at home.”
The road trips to Amherst, Mass., Atlanta, Ga., and Oklahoma City last spring brought with them an us-against-the-world mentality that helped the Huskies overcome adversity and win the unprecedented title. The bonds of long flights and stuffy hotel rooms were a key factor in last spring’s run to glory.
“You had three weeks to kind of dedicate your life to something that could be the coolest thing ever,” Lawrie said. “So you just kind of love it. There wasn’t one person who didn’t love the time we had together.”
This year’s bonding will have to come during a walk to the softball complex instead of across seats of an airplane. But UW might find motivation in the perceived slight that came with getting the No. 3 overall seed at the upcoming tournament — despite winning last year’s title and being ranked No. 1 most of this season.
Tarr and the players shrugged off the tournament seedings Tuesday.
“I don’t really care where we’re seeded,” Lawrie said. “I would rather take being at home and having my family watching and having the community we have here watching over the No. 1 seed. We had a three seed last year, and I think we did pretty well. So I like where we’re at.”
The Huskies certainly know where they’re at this year, and they hope the familiar surroundings can start a similar run to what last season’s road warriors endured.
Only this time, they won’t have to worry about their hair.
“We’ll be good,” Lawrie said with a laugh.
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