As the NCAA tournament selections are announced on television, the camera turns to a team as it sees its school come up on the screen revealing its presence in the field. The reactions vary in enthusiasm level, sometimes genuine and at other times seemingly manufactured.
But there was nothing phony about the sheer joy the University of Wisconsin softball team expressed when the Badgers learned they had made it into the NCAA tournament. The boisterous, spontaneous celebration that broke out from the banquet room at Christy’s Landing likely echoed all the way across Lake Waubesa.
It was the kind of response to be expected from a team that was coming to grips with the reality that its season was over, only to be given a last-minute reprieve from the tournament selection committee, which gave UW the final at-large berth in the 64-team field.