REPEAT! Cats Down DSU In 8 For 2nd Straight MEAC Title

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. - So what if we didn't get the picture-perfect storybook ending? Any extra-inning victory with a walk-off single like Bethune-Cookman's 5-4 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship game decision over Delaware State Sunday morning still makes a dang good read.

Michelle Banuelos-Smith`s bases-loaded, no-out single to right drove in pinch runner Bianca Savulak for the game-winner as the Wildcats (33-24) won their second straight league championship and NCAA regional berth. B-CU will learn its destination tonight at 10 p.m. when ESPNU broadcasts the selection show.

B-CU worked its way through the loser's bracket to win the title, enduring a three-hour delay on Friday and then having this game postponed from Saturday.

"We like to compete and that's a great attribute to have," said B-CU coach Chris Cochran. "Our seniors and younger players are in the top third tier when it comes to attitude. When things are going good, the players are great and when things are bad, the players are great. I'm happy for the players because winning the championship twice in two years is not easy to do. "

Cochran garnered her second Tournament Outstanding Coach award along with senior Allison Garcia for Outstanding Player. Banuelos-Smith joined Garcia on the All-tournament team.



Videographer: TheOProductions1907; 2011 Bethune Cookman University Commencement - Dr Al Sharpton

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B-CU wins MEAC title

ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Five years ago, Bethune-Cookman was the darling of college softball. But when the Wildcats' head coach left for greener pastures shortly after they became the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team to reach the NCAA super regionals, they fell off the map. Now they're back.

B-CU defeated North Carolina A&T 7-3 on Saturday at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex to win the MEAC softball championship and qualify for regional play for the first time since its amazing run to the Super Regionals in 2005. "I'm so glad we got this for the program," said B-CU pitcher Allison Garcia, who was named the tournament's outstanding player. Fourth-year coach Chris Cochran was named outstanding coach of the tourney.

"I'm so happy for Chris," B-CU athletics director Lynn Thompson said amid the Wildcats' celebration, noting B-CU was caught off-guard when former coach Laura Watten left the program for the University of Maryland just as the 2005-06 school year was about to begin. After a season under an interim coach, Cochran, a former head coach at Brown University, was hired in August 2006. "She had to come in here and rebuild it," Thompson said. "When we hired her we knew it would be a good fit, and it was. I'm just so proud of what Chris and what these kids have accomplished."

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