For eight consecutive seasons, the Lady Leopards had a fine mix of experienced sophomores and talented freshmen to amass at least 40 wins and finish either first or second in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference standings.

This season, a freshmen-heavy team battled to just a 30-27 record and finished third in conference - its lowest finish since 1999.

But thanks to a late surge and a good schedule, Hennig believes this year’s team still can achieve its main goal of advancing to the NJCAA Division I Tournament in Plant City, Fla.

The path to Florida begins at noon today as Temple takes on Hill in the opening game of the six-team, double-elimination NJCAA Region 5B Tournament at Craig Ranch in McKinney.

“We weren’t expected to do anything with this group, and if we get it done that will be real special,” Hennig said. “I’m probably as proud of this group as any that we’ve had simply because this is the group that wasn’t supposed to get it done.”

And they got it done convincingly.

At the conference midway point, the Lady Leopards still were struggling to find their way. It seemed every time they would win a big game, they’d follow with a disappointing loss. Hennig, who had relied heavily on sophomore leadership in the past, was finding little now. That resulted in a 6-8 record at the end of the first round of conference.

But it wasn’t that the sophomores weren’t trying to provide leadership.

“This whole year I’ve been trying to lead,” sophomore cleanup hitter Heather Mosser said. “It’s been a tough year and we’ve struggled a lot. It’s hard to lead 14 freshmen - I’m not going to lie.”

First baseman Mosser took a medical redshirt in the 2006 season, the last season Temple made it to the national tournament - and she knew that to get back, the team had to focus and set some goals.

“We have four sophomores on this team,” she said. “And we all had to step up and do something, especially in the second round of conference. We set a goal to win 10 games.”

Temple finished conference play with a 16-12 record, in the process climbed from fifth to third and knocked rival McLennan from first place to second in the final standings.

Mosser’s .350 batting average and 38 runs batted in along with fellow sophomore Courtney DeLaRosa’s speed on the base paths (18 stolen bases, nine triples) had a lot to do with that, but so did the emergence of several key freshmen.

Troy product McKenzie Sickler leads TC with 39 RBI, earning her the third spot in the batting order, and Amanda Mayfield’s .404 average paces the team.

While the bats have heated up, Bruceville-Eddy graduate Haley Friudenberg has found her groove in the circle, becoming the staff ace with several key wins down the stretch.

“Coaches come to me now and are asking me what happened,” Hennig said. “‘Did you get some kids healed? Where did these players come from?’ It’s the same group we had in February. But some teams never saw Haley. She and (Rockdale graduate Samantha Meyer) haven’t disappointed in the circle.”

Right now Temple and conference champion North Central Texas are playing the best softball, but Hennig knows from past experience that no matter how good TC is playing now, it’s all about who can play the best for the next three days.

“I thought we were a cinch last year,” he admitted. “And we didn’t win it. Anything can happen at this tournament. All three phases of the game have to be clicking.”

One thing that works in TC’s favor is the schedule. By claiming third place in conference, Temple opens against sixth-place Hill and the winner advances to battle McLennan.

Temple went 2-2 against Hill and 3-1 against MCC.

“We’re not taking Hill too lightly,” Hennig said. “They are not going to stop playing. We have a lot of respect for them. But I know I would rather be on the side of the bracket we are on. Hill and McLennan are two teams we match up well against and are very familiar with.”

Hennig also noted that TC scored more runs against those two teams than any other teams in conference, with 36 runs against Hill and 34 against McLennan.

So indeed, confidence is high at Temple. It might have been an unusual season, but the Lady Leopards have the right ingredients to survive the tournament and make their third trip to the national tournament.

“Anything can happen,” Mosser said. “I think we are on a high right now because we are playing really well and that’s something we haven’t done all year.

“There was a point we didn’t know if we’d make it here. Now that we did and we met our goal to win 10 games, we should be fine going into this."

mhood@temple-telegram.com