END OF AN ERA

COLLINS – Dry eyes were few and far between late Friday night in Collins.

As the dark pink sunset faded into the glowing hum of stadium lighting, Murray head coach Danny Jensen sat with his Lady Mustangs and talked to them one final time, following a 10-2 loss to Class 1A No. 1 Collins-Maxwell in the Region 3 semifinals.

Murray trickled out the first base dugout after the final out, semi-reluctant to shake hands with the Spartans in acknowledgement the season was over.

The loss brought the ‘The Farewell Tour’ to a close as the 40-year head coach had his players find their families before coming back to the outfield grass to deliver one more heart-felt message.

Though he may be retiring after 1,300 career games, Jensen reassured the girls of his final team he wasn’t going to be out of touch and that players were welcome to reach out to him for help with anything in the future.

After wrapping up his final postgame talk, Jensen took time to individually hug each one of his seniors and share words with them as they walked off a high school softball field for the final time in uniform, alongside Jensen.

Parents crowded the first base fence line with phones in hand to capture the final moments of the legendary career of the head coach that had been so influential to the program, Murray had named its home field in his honor.

For Jensen, the emotions of the moment started in the late stages of the game as the defending state champs pulled away from his squad.

“Oh man I’m spinning. That last half inning, I didn’t want to face the end of it until then. I coached this game like I coached the previous 1,300,” said Jensen. “When I went out the last time I knew that was going to be the last time I touched the third base coaching box.

“... Believe it or not, I don’t feel old. I feel like I could keep going, but the time is right,” Jensen said through a couple of chuckles. “I think I’ll feel better about my decision in a week or so.”

Even the opposition knew the framing of the contest was more than just a postseason game.

“Forty years is a long time. He’s been a good coach for a long time,” said Collins-Maxwell head coach Troy Houge. “I have the utmost respect for him and what he’s done down there. We both talked a little bit that it would have been much better if we could have met at state instead of here.”

Early hope

It didn’t start out as it finished.

Murray fans got an early taste of what could have been in the opening at-bat of the contest.

Starting pitcher Bre Klein stepped in as the Lady Mustangs’ leadoff hitter and worked her way deep into a 3-2 count before belting a ball straight over the fence, setting the Murray sideline ablaze with energy.

Klein and the rest of the Lady Mustangs were well aware of the prowess of Collins-Maxwell’s starting pitcher in Mikayla Houge, who entered Friday’s do-or-die matchup having surrendered three earned runs in 123 innings pitched for a 0.17 ERA.

“Bre does what Bre does,” said Jensen. “Taking the best pitcher in the state yard was a fabulous start.”

Houge had allowed one home run all season and a first at-bat homer was about as perfect of a start as Murray could have asked for.

The lead didn’t last long as Collins-Maxwell almost instantaneously tied the regional semifinal back up. Mikayla’s younger sister, Alexis Houge, reached base on a slap single before taking second on a wild throw.

Alexis Houge, who was 49-of-50 on stolen base attempts coming into Friday, moved to third on a sac bunt and Mikayla drove her in with a sacrifice fly to left field.

“She’s fast, as they say,” said Jensen of Alexis Houge. “When she got on in the first I said to myself ‘now we’re tied 1-1,’ because you can’t keep her from scoring.”

In the second and third innings, Collins-Maxwell’s offense didn’t let up as it plated two runs in each frame to take a 5-1 lead.

The magic number Jensen set in his pregame preparations was three. The Spartans had allowed a total of seven runs all season and three of those came in their only blemish of their 2019 campaign, a 3-1 loss to Class 3A No. 3 Louisa-Muscatine.

“We thought three was the magic number and if it got much past that we knew we were going to have a hard time against her,” said Jensen of the Spartans’ pitcher.

It was a number Murray preferred to reach early as Mikayla Houge settled in after Klein’s solo home run.

Following the first inning, Mikayla Houge struck out 12 batters, issuing two walks and no hits until the sixth inning.

Kelli Romero struck pay dirt in the sixth with a home run that snuck inside the left field foul pole, bringing some life to an offense that had been starting to taper.

However, Collins-Maxwell once again answered, posting four runs in the home half of the sixth inning to take a commanding 10-2 lead.

Final outs

With the prowess of the Spartans’ starting pitcher and Murray down to its final three outs, the emotions started to creep into the Lady Mustang dugout.

The pressure and the stage of what many knew was around the corner hung in the air as Murray stepped to the plate one final time under its historic head coach.

Murray didn’t go down without a fight as Klein singled with one out and moved to third on an error, but Mikayla Houge’s 16th strikeout of the night and a groundout sealed the game into the record books.

Murray ends the year with a 26-10 record as a team and the six seniors in Klein, Romero, Kayla Wookey, Megan Johnston, Kendra Boles and Hailey Chew finish with a five-year record of 132-38.

Heads hung as Jensen addressed the team one final time. The overwhelming feeling wasn’t of disappointment, but of knowing it marked the end of an era.

As Jensen made his way through his final senior class and addressed his last senior in Hailey Chew, the outgoing coach’s young grandson wandered over and poked Jensen in the leg with a stick, bringing a final laugh to mellow out the somber situation.

It brought out smiles in both Jensen, Chew and many of the Murray faithful looking on, solidifying the familial atmosphere Jensen had built around the program he joined in 1979.

It was one last reminder of his slogan that will undoubtedly stay with the program no matter who is sitting on the bucket in the dugout.

‘Murray softball is fun.’

Collins-Maxwell 10, Murray 2

R  H  E

Mur 100  001 0 —  2  5  4

CM 122  014 x  —  10 10  1

Murray: Bre Klein K BB and Kelli Romero. C-M: Mikayla Houge K BB and Hannah Caple. W — Houge (23-1). L – Klein (14-6). HR – Murr: Klein, Romero. 3B – None. 2B — C-M: M. Houge. RBI — Murr: Klein, Romero. C-M: M. Houge (3), Olivia Pasquariello (3), Emma Kahler, Reagan Franzen, Ella Kahler.  Multiple hits — Murr: Klein (2), Kayla Wookey (2). C-M: Alexis Houge (3), M. Houge (2), Pasquariello (2).