College World Series: Cinderella Finds Her Glass Slipper in Omaha

There are some stories that defy description.  There are some that are just so unbelievable, you have to pinch yourself and wonder if it was just a dream.

Welcome to the world of Fresno State.

This year, their football program will be ranked in the preseason top 25 rankings—stifle your laughs, folks.

Will UCLA and Wisconsin still be laughing after facing Pat Hill's ferocious Bulldogs?  Probably not.  In fact, they'll probably be licking their wounds, asking, "Who are those guys?" 

But for now, let's concentrate on baseball in the San Joaquin Valley.  You know...where the California raisin and almond growers are.  Home of the Fresno State Bulldogs—a team that lost twelve of their first twenty games of the season.

And where Cinderella just bought herself a new castle.  Tonight.

The baseball World Series ended, and this time, there was a shocker.

Cinderella, meet Georgia.  Georgia, meet Cinderella.

Cinderella, by the way, had beaten the No. 2-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels before finally advancing to the Finals of the College World Series.  Her next dance partner?  No. 6 Georgia.

The Georgia Bulldogs were a high seed going into the series, and after beating Florida State, probably thought they could just mail in the next two of three games.

In fact, in the first game, they beat Fresno State 7-6.  Win one more, and the SEC has yet another National Championship to crow about.

Lose the next two, and the SEC will have lost to a WAC team.

Sounds easy enough.  Just win one more.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Omaha.  Fresno State decided that their ranking of No. 89 was just a tad too disrespectful.

In Game Two, Fresno State rocked Georgia back to their midnight train, 19-10, and all of a sudden, what looked like a rout was now becoming a potential Hollywood script for Kevin Costner to produce.

Game Three was all Fresno State.  With Justin Wilson pitching a shutout until the eighth inning, Fresno State let Georgia make one last stab, parking a pitch for one run.

Then the clock struck twelve. For Georgia.

Fresno State responded by pulling their starter and putting in closer Brandon Burke to seal the deal.  He forced Georgia's pinch hitter to ground out on a double play and then induced a flyout near the warning track for the final out.

Georgia lost, 6-1, to a WAC team—and Cinderella rewrote history.  No team in any sport in NCAA history has been seeded as low as the Fresno State Bulldogs were and won a championship.

Let's rephrase that—they are the lowest-seeded team in any sport to ever win an NCAA National Championship.

The Bulldogs' reaction to being Cinderella?  "Cinderella, I don't know about Cinderella.  We're the Bulldogs," said Justin Wilson.  Another teammate said, "We're just a bunch of goofballs."

Goofballs or not, congratulations to the Fresno State Bulldogs for proving that Heaven isn't in Iowa.

Nope, it's right here in Omaha, Nebraska, baby.  The nation's breadbasket.

Where dreams come to live and die.

Wisconsin and UCLA have about two months to face their own date with Cinderella's better half—the Fresno State football team.

Pat Hill will have his squad fired up to prove to the world that, indeed, California has more than just fruits and nuts.

California is home to the first university to reach 100 National Championships (UCLA).  California is also home to the conference with the most National Championships (Pac-10).

And now, California is home to Cinderella.  Paradise awaits you, your highness.