It’s been exactly a week since the ADM softball Tigers had their season ended in heartbreaking fashion with a 4-3 loss to Creston in the Class 4A regional finals.

The saying “time heals all wounds” may not bring much solace right now to a group of ADM players that amassed 32 wins and had its sights set on this week’s state tournament in Fort Dodge.

But that shouldn’t diminish the Tigers’ sense of accomplishment, as they didn’t lose back-to-back games all season and went 9-4 against other ranked opponents.

“Well, I think the big thing that sticks out is their effort and how much they got along as far as a team,” Dillinger said. “The kids did so much work in the offseason; I think the offseason work really helped them get the success they had during the season, and that’s the thing we’re going to have to repeat.

“We had some big wins against some quality ranked teams and we continued to get better throughout the season – we just came up short at the very end.”

The program has also enjoyed a remarkable turnaround since the arrival of head coach Rick Dillinger prior to last season: the Tigers had won just 12 games combined between the 2012 and 13 seasons; with Dillinger, ADM is 57-17 with back-to-back appearances in the regional finals.

ADM loses its entire left side of the infield due to the graduation of third baseman Taylor Boorn and shortstop Kenzi Sutton. Look for a story later this week about what their departure means for the program moving forward.