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By Glenn Sattell

Special to the Albany Herald

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The experience was great, the game results not as hoped.

Albany State was bounced in two games from the NCAA Division II South 1 Regional Tournament in West Palm Beach, falling 7-0 on Friday to Valdosta State.

“It’s been great,” Golden Rams head coach Amber Barker said of the experience. “We’ve been on the go, so there really hasn’t been much down time to soak in the fact that we made it to regionals. It’s been a very exciting time, very fortunate for all of us and the players to experience it — all the players, but especially the seniors.

“I think it will hit us after we leave here, the fact that what we accomplished. But there are so many emotions right now. But I know that afterward we’ll be able to look back and see all that we did.”

Senior Jade Williams, from Tallahassee, Florida, said she enjoyed her brief return to the Sunshine State and promised that while she won’t be with the team going forward, it will not be the final trip to regionals.

“It was a great experience and although we didn’t win, we will come back,” Williams said.

Senior Danielle Turner echoed those sentiments.

“The experience here has been a whirlwind,” Turner said. “I worked four years for this, and just to be here; yeah we didn’t come out on top, but just to end my senior year here at regionals is to me being on top. I enjoyed every minute of it. I embraced every minute of it. “

In Friday’s elimination game, Aryn McGowan (15-12) had things going her way, keeping the opposition off balance with a craftsman like mix of pitches. But as in Thursday’s 4-0 loss to host Palm Beach Atlantic in the tournament opener, one inning got away from her, and it cost the Golden Rams.

Valdosta State tallied three runs in the fourth on a three-run homer by Logan Hill, then, with McGowan’s afternoon over, the Blazers added another four runs off the Golden Rams’ bullpen in the sixth inning to pull away.

“It was like (Thursday), the one inning kind of deflated us a little bit,” Barker said. “The story was, we just didn’t hit.”

McGowan came into the fourth inning with a one-hitter and nearly got out of the fourth inning with no damage. After issuing back-to-back walks to open the inning, McGowan retired the next two batters and was an out away from escaping trouble. But Hill popped a fly ball just fair down the left-field line and over the fence, just above the 200-foot sign.

The Golden Rams, who finish the season 29-25, did not tally a run in two tournament games. They tallied three hits on Thursday and four on Friday, getting singles from Jade Williams, Lavette Tucker, Demeshia Russell and Taylor Clemens.

Valdosta State was ousted in Friday’s second elimination game, losing 1-0 to Palm Beach Atlantic.