GREENSBORO, N.C. – When you hear the term "Cinderella Story", people often think of the 1969 New York Mets, the 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey team, the 2008 Fresno State baseball team, or most recently, the Saint Peter's men's basketball team.
 
All of these teams defied the odds, shocked the nation, and did what no one expected. Well, that's exactly what the 2022 UNC Greensboro (UNCG) baseball team did.
 
The Spartans were hit or miss for the first half of the season, dropping nine games by two or fewer runs and defeating teams by five or more runs five times.
 
Heading into their Southern Conference slate, the Spartans were one game below .500. Their first two series were against the top two teams in the preseason poll, Wofford and Mercer.
 
After the two series, the Spartans were winless in conference play and now eight games below .500, a first for head coach Billy Godwin. A 30+ year career in baseball and the skipper had never been eight games behind.
 
It was a new week and two new opponents, in-city foe North Carolina A&T and the reigning 2021 SoCon Tournament Champions, Samford Bulldogs. UNCG skated past the Aggies, winning 13-1.
 
It was then a slow start for the Spartans in game one of the series against the Bulldogs, falling behind 5-0 after five innings. UNCG scored late but it wasn't enough losing 5-3, and they would now fall 0-7 in conference play.
 
Then overnight, something clicked within the team. The bats were hot, the pitching was on point, and the Spartans were winning. They finished the Samford series taking two, outscoring the Bulldogs 21-6 in the last two games.
 
UNCG went 7-2 over the next three conference series, sweeping The Citadel and going 2-1 against VMI and ETSU.
 
They battled back from 0-7 to 9-9 in conference play and were just one game below .500 overall. A loss at N.C. State would put them two games back going into the final regular-season series.
 
The Spartan's last series was against Western Carolina, a team that swept Mercer and would be the only team to do so this season.
 
The Spartans went into the weekend battling for a top-four spot in the conference tournament and to finish over .500 on the season.
 
UNCG took the first two games and was looking for their second conference sweep of the season. After a four-hour weather delay, the game began and the Spartans got busy, taking a 13-3 lead through 5 ½ innings.
 
Western Carolina wasn't going down without giving UNCG a fight and scored eight in the sixth inning to knock out the run rule. The Catamounts were one hit away from a walk-off but grounded out for the Spartans to complete the sweep. They finished their conference season 12-9 and one game over .500 with a 28-27 overall record.
 
Not only did the Spartans battle back from 0-7, but they also finished tied for second in the regular season and earned the no. 4 seed in the conference tournament.
 
The tournament rules were simple: win and advance or lose two and go home.
 
UNCG's first opponent was the eighth-seed, The Citadel. The Bulldogs had just won their play-in game against ETSU earlier that day. They were warmed up and ready to go.
 
UNCG was leading the game until the eighth inning when The Citadel scored five runs and then added another in the ninth to take a 6-3 lead. The Spartans were three outs away from losing the first game in the tournament.
 
GC Jarman led the inning off and was hit by a pitch, followed by Zack Budzik who singled, and then Caleb Freeman walked. The Spartans had the bases loaded and no outs.
 
Kennedy Jones stepped up to the plate and singled to right field to clear the bases and tie the game. Up to this point in the season, the Spartans haven't won on a walk-off.
 
But that was about to change. 
 
A deep double to right field from Pres Cavenaugh would end the game and give UNCG the 7-6 win.
 
UNCG's next opponent was top-seeded Wofford. The Terriers would give UNCG its first loss of the tournament, which meant two things: the first was they had to play again later that day. The second is one more loss and the season is over.
 
The second game of the day was against Western Carolina. They defeated the Catamounts 9-7.
 
The top four teams were left in the tournament, with only Wofford and Samford undefeated. The Terriers defeated Samford to advance to the championship game. The only way the Spartans would play on Sunday was to beat Mercer and Samford in back-to-back games.
 
Not only did UNCG defeat Mercer and Samford, but they outscored them 24-7 and run-ruled Mercer.
 
The Spartans did it. They made it to Championship Sunday, and it took five games, 43 ½ innings, 43 runs, and 68 hits over three days.
 
UNCG was the underdog going into the game. Wofford had eased their way to the championship while the Spartans fought tooth and nail to get there. And they weren't going down without a fight.
 
The Spartans dominated the first game, winning 10-2 to force the all-or-nothing game behind Austin Parsley's third complete game of the season and RBIs from Jones, Mitchell Smith, Greg Hardison, and GC Jarman.
 
Game two was scoreless until the third inning when Hogan Windish, Pres Cavenaugh, and Smith hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.  
 
UNCG refused to slow down, ending the game in seven innings with a final score of 12-2.
 
They did what most thought they couldn't do. They fought back and won the 2022 Southern Conference Tournament. It's a feat so amazing that even coach Godwin has never witnessed something like this
 
"I've been in this game a long time," said Godwin. "30+ years coaching at all levels and never have I witnessed anything like what our kids did in Greenville, and I tell people all the time that I had the best seat in the house."
 
The Spartans' Cinderella story is still being written as they face no. 16 Georgia Southern this Friday at 7 p.m. in the Statesboro Regional. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.