Maddie Daigneau’s UMBC teammates were shook when they arrived in Tucson and felt the simmering heat of the Sonoran Desert for the first time.
“You lived in this!?” they asked.
“I was like, ‘yeah, I absolutely love the heat,”’ Daigneau said.
The Arizona native is happy to be back in her home state. The scalding temperatures are only one reason why. The Retrievers are opening the NCAA Tournament at the Tucson Regional, meaning Daigneau’s softball career will be coming full circle.
She cried when the bracket was revealed.
“It was probably the best feeling ever to be able to start softball and to be able to have one of my last tournaments here,” she said.