Church softball team wins national slow-pitch crown
Dianne and Roger Tant each issued a challenge, and when the husband and wife accepted, they went on the ride of their lives with the Warren Baptist Church softball squad.
"I told my wife, if you play this year, I'll coach," Tant said. "I never dreamed it was going to evolve into something like this. It was so much fun."
The fun included a couple of trophies, as Warren Baptist earned state and national championship in the United States Specialty Sports Association women's church competitive slow-pitch division.
The players began practicing last may, and the work paid off, as the squad captured the USSSA state championship, then added a national title by sweeping the USSSA World Series at Sweetwater Park in Thomson.
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Warren Baptist, which features a number of players from Columbia County, finished the season with an 18-2 record, but their coach wasn't taking any of the credit.
"Anybody could have coached this team," Tant said. "All I did was make the lineup and send them home when they were rounding third."
Warren Baptist Church's slow-pitch softball team won the United States Specialty Sports Association World Series.
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In the state tournament, Jennifer Richards garnered the Most Valuable Player award, while Kim Poteet went 22-for-24 at the plate to nail down Best Offense honors at state.
Joining Richards and Poteet on the state all-tournament team were Stacie Adkins, Leigh Collins and Janet Cheek.
Warren Baptist won every game at the USSSA National tournament to take the title last month, but there was some drama during the double-elimination event.
In the third game, Warren's Deidra Havird delivered a two-out, two-strike grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to lead her team to victory and secure a spot in the finals.
Havird went on to claim the tournament's Best Offense award, and pitcher Mary Sarver nailed down MVP. Sarver, Havird, Adkins, Poteet and Jamie Montgomery were selected to the all-tournament team.
Other team members contributing to the national-title run were Richards, Leigh Ann Smits, Dianne Tant, Brandi Schlein, Donna Williams, Melissa Williford.
Roger Tant says he won't need to be coaxed into coaching Warren Baptist next season. This year's showing took care of that.
"How many times do you get to coach or play on a state championship team and a national championship team?" Tant asked. "Just to be part of that is unreal."