GAINESVILLE, FL – The Alabama State softball team's long journey in the 2016 season has finally ended.
 
It came to a close on Saturday in an elimination game of the NCAA Tournament in the Gainesville regional with an 8-0 defeat to No. 22 nationally-ranked Florida Atlantic at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida. 
 
Bittersweet as it may have been, the Lady Hornets (28-27) pushed through challenges all season and had plenty of achievements over the course of the season, winning both its first SWAC Championship and made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
 
It finishes with the third most wins in a season (28) under second-year head coach Chris Steiner-Wilcoxson. 
 
In the regional, ASU had the tall task of facing the two teams with the most wins among Division-I schools this season in Florida (54-5) and the Owls (51-8).
 
FAU, making its 11^th appearance in the NCAA regionals under head coach Joan Joyce, put up three runs in the first and then added four more in the third to grab a 7-0 lead.
 
"We just wanted to represent the SWAC and represent our program the best we could," Steiner-Wilcoxson said.
 
"It's the first time for all of us. We hadn't faced any of these three teams all season. We'd seen them on TV a couple of times, but being in reality and seeing them up close and personal is much different. I was hoping the emotion and all that we had going on through the conference tournament would carry over, but we've got to get over that hump of being star-struck and being there for the first time. We were able to do it at the conference tournament this year. Last year was our first year making it to the championship, so we were kind of uneasy and out of our element, and we kind of ran out of gas. This year, we made sure that we knew what to expect, so we can use that experience for the future, and now we have this experience so that hopefully we'll be better prepared next year,"
 
Starting for a second consecutive day, Maddie Phelps (18-12) pitched two plus innings and allowed seven runs before departing and gave way to Melissa Christmann, who did a solid job of stopping the flow of runs from scoring.
 
Christmann pitched four straight scoreless innings and scattered four hits.  She finished with five innings of work and allowed just one run. 
 
The Lady Hornets made a series of good defensive plays including one where right fielder Brittney Wilson laid out to make a catch after briefly colliding with second baseman Laura Aguilar in shallow right.
 
Lexi Grimaldo made a nice diving stop at third and got up to make a strong throw and get the out.
 
Aleesa Yanez batted 2-for-3 with a screaming double off the center field wall and legged out an infield single in the seventh to lead ASU offensively. 
 
"I thought that might be my last at-bat (on the near home run), so let me give it my all. I did what I could. We battled. I just wanted to leave a mark that we could still do this." Yanez said.
 
GO HORNETS