By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

You might say that LSU-Eunice pitcher Stacy Sutton had a hand in her team advancing to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II National Championship tournament.

Two shutouts and a save at last month’s Region 23 tournament probably earns her at least that much, right?

The Bengals freshman and former East St. John standout is set to attempt to pitch her team to a national title when NJCAA tournament play begins tomorrow in Normal, Illinois.

Fifth seeded LSU-Eunice (37-16) will face eighth-seeded Johnson County at 10 a.m. Thursday morning to begin the double-elimination tourney.

And Sutton will be on the mound.

“I can’t believe I’m here sometimes,” said Sutton on Monday, a day before she and her team were set to depart for Illinois. “It’s been crazy, sometimes unbelievable. I’m very nervous. My team has had to calm me down.”

The LSU-Eunice softball program has only existed for four years, but its made a fast ascent. Its top five ranking is by far the loftiest perch LSUE has attained — in fact, 2009 represents the Bengals’ first winning season.

But even as a freshman, Sutton has earned her spot as the team’s ace. In 176.2 innings of work. she’s struck out 118 batters and maintains a 2.45 ERA. All three marks represent school records. That, along with a 1.16 WHIP has helped her attain an 18-7 record this season.

“We thought she’d be our number two. Our top pitcher was returning,” said LSUE coach Andy Lee. “But in her first two weeks of work, she solidified herself as number one. She just competes, and she’s really fearless. She’s not afraid of contact, and she’ll get the big strikeout when she needs it.”

Lee, in his first season with the team, was not around last season to recruit Sutton.

But he’s sure glad the previous regime did so.

“From day one, I could tell she had something special,” he said.

The leap Sutton has made since her high school days, she says, boils down to confidence. LSUE boasts a dominant lineup that has averaged nine runs a game this season, leaving Sutton with room for error — room, though, that she rarely needs.

“I know if I allow a few balls to be hit, it isn’t the end of the world,” Sutton said. “My defense will make the plays behind me, and if we can’t, our bats will.”

But the one rough part of Sutton’s first season, as it turns out, came via doubt. Not in her abilities, but in her desire to continue playing.

“At one point, my arm was just hurting me a lot,” she said. “The pain would wake me up at night. I’ve dealt with pain in my arm since I was a sophomore. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep going.”

ESJ softball coach Monica Hebert, who coached Sutton in her senior year, said that she had one message her former ace at the time.

“No way,” Hebert said. “You have too much talent to let it go to waste.”

It didn’t take long for Sutton to come around, though.

“I never dreamed we’d get this far, especially in my freshman year,” Sutton said. “After experiencing this feeling, it just makes you want to do it again, and again and again. Now, I can’t find a reason not to want to do this.”

Hebert said that none of Sutton’s success comes as a surprise.

“She’s the type of person that when she puts her mind to something, she’s gonna do it no matter what,” she said.

Now, Sutton’s mind is squarely on earning a championship.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet, that I’m going to be playing for a ring this week,” she said. “I don’t even think the regional wins have hit me. I’m still in shock about it all, and very excited.”