Augustana softball coach Gretta Melsted on another NCAA tourney run

Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Death. Taxes. And Augustana softball winning NSIC titles and making fierce May runs through the NCAA Tournament.

It's happening again. The Vikings, who have won 24 consecutive games, are two wins away from reaching their fifth NCAA D2 Softball Championships (in other words, the D2 World Series) as they start a best-of-three super regional at Central Oklahoma on Thursday. They got there by sweeping through the Central Region in Missouri last week.

This after reaching their 13th NCAA tourney in 19 years under Gretta Melsted, a run that has included seven NSIC regular season titles and the 2019 national championship.

Melsted is as constant of a winner as any coach of any sport at any level in the Dakotas. She's won 73 percent of her games and 80 percent of conference matchups.

But this year, Augie may have the fullest head of steam ever headed into to a super regional because the Vikings are still steaming from dropping to No. 1 to No. 3 in the Central Region rankings — forcing them to hit the road to advance in the tourney — after rippping through the NSIC tournament.

The mild-mannered Melsted is not shy to say it — the Vikings were "pissed."

How does a coach effectively help players harness or channel that pent-up energy? What buttons does she push now and throughout a season to maximize a team's potential?

The Albert Lea, Minnesota, native answers that, plus walks us through a wildly successful career that almost never happened because of her love of another sport.

Why is she the perfect fit for Augie, and why has she not left despite multiple overtures at higher levels?

Enjoy an hour with the "blonde-haired, blue-eyed Lutheran" Upper Midwestern face and engineer of not just the premier program in the region, but a national powerhouse despite its cold weather location.