Eugenio, Saint Martin’s humming along

You’ll have to excuse Joslyn Eugenio for not wanting to attend her graduation in May.

A senior at Saint Martin’s (Wash.) University, Eugenio has a real shot at leading the Saints softball team to an NCAA Division II regional this year.

The only problem is, the tournament would run at the same time as her graduation ceremony.

"There really is no real option or debate in our head," Eugenio said about the four seniors on the team. "If we make regionals, we’re going. We’ll still get that diploma at the end of the day."

Two years ago, Eugenio, a 2009 Sacred Hearts alumna, suffered through a 9-28 season with the Saints, who won just once at home all year.

She hit .391 with a career-high four homers and started 19 games on the mound, going 5-14 with a 4.27 ERA without much help.

Now, Eugenio is primarily a first baseman and hitting .373 with nine doubles, two homers and 29 RBIs to lead Saint Martin’s to a 26-11 overall record and an 8-3 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

"We got a new coach after my sophomore year who has really built our softball program up and taught us how to win," Eugenio said. "It’s definitely a good feeling when the community and our school has been noticing us and recognizing us for how we’re doing."

The Saints enjoyed a 24-win turnaround last season, setting a school record with 33 victories. Picked to finish last in the conference, Saint Martin’s lost its final game of the season to miss out on a postseason berth.

This year, instead of the overall conference winner earning a regional berth, the conference will host a four-team tournament at the end of the year to determine the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II championships.

"It’s nice to have that tournament, but like our coach says, we still need to go out and do great every single game like we have this season because if somehow we make the tournament but don’t win, we still have a chance to be ranked," Eugenio said. "That’s why this last tournament was so important."

Saint Martin’s took a break from conference play to participate in the Tournament of Champions over the weekend in Turlock, Calif.

Saint Martin’s went 6-1 in the tournament and made the championship game in the 26-team field, losing to Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Saints are 12-2 in their past 14 games since starting the season 2-4.

"We kind of had a rough beginning," Eugenio said. "I think we’ve learned to take the games one at a time instead of focusing on just the conference tournament at the end of the year."

Eugenio played four years of softball at Sacred Hearts and was named the school’s most outstanding senior athlete her final year.

She’s earned three all-conference honors in college, making the All-GNAC first team twice.

As a junior, she led the conference with 20 doubles and was second with 47 RBIs.

She’s started 181 games in her career, with 45 coming as a pitcher.

"Playing everyone again this year, it’s kind of started to hit me how much I’ve played these teams now," Eugenio said. "I think it’s also hitting me that it’s slowly coming to an end.

"I’m definitely going to miss it, and I think in the future, I might try to coach somewhere because it’s definitely a big part of my life. Softball has helped make me who I am today."