The Western Nebraska Community College softball team found out who their first round opponent will be at the NJCAA national tournament May 15-17 in Plant City, Fla.
And, the match-up with the No. 4 seed Wallace State Community College-Hanceville Lady Lions and the No. 13 seed Cougars will teams of similar proportions. The two will do battle at 9 a.m. (MST) Thursday at the Randy L. Larson Four-Plex in Plant City, located between Tampa and Orlando. The Cougars are making their first appearance at the national tournament after capturing the regional title with a 6-0 win over Otero Junior College, the 7-time Region IX champions.
“We had opportunities to see Wallace State play,” WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. “They were down in Texas when we were there, playing some of the teams that we played. I also have had an opportunity to work some events with their coach.”
The two squads, also boast similar records, Wallace State entering with a 64-8 record, while WNCC enters at 54-8. The two squads also boost sensational pitchers between the Lady Lions’ Holli Hill and WNCC’s Kelsey Garner, who each were named NJCAA Pitcher of the Week twice. The two flame throwers even shared the Player of the Week honors the same week.
“Obviously, Hill has done some nice things in the circle. She will do a nice job in the circle for them,” Winn-Ratliff said. “I talked to a couple of buddies of mine that have already played them and we just need to come out and put the ball into play and hope we can find a way to score runs.”
At the Odessa Tournament, Wallace State went 7-1 only falling to Central Arizona College 12-4. The Cougars, at that tournament, went 3-2 falling to Midland College and West Texas State College. WNCC lost 5-3 to Midland, while Wallace State won 6-5. The other two common opponents between the squads saw both beat Odessa College and Howard College. WNCC beat Odessa 7-5 and Howard 9-0. while Wallace State beat Odessa 7-3 and Howard 5-3.
“Regardless [of who we are playing], it really doesn’t matter where we are ranked [or seeded] or who we are playing,” Winn-Ratliff said. “The only team that matters is us. We have to come out and do the things that we have been doing all year no matter who our opponent is.”
The rest of the bracketing for the tournament has No. 1 Santa Fe Community College (56-3-1) against No. 16 Spartanburg Methodist College (34-11); No. 8 Midland College (41-17) against N. 9 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (36-11); No. 5 Tallahassee Community College (28-22) against No. 12 San Jacinto College-South (37-15); No. 3 Yavapai College (48-18) against No. 14 Iowa Western Community College (51-11); No. 6 College of Southern Idaho (45-20) against No. 11 McLennan Community College (39-17); No. 7 Wabash Valley College (46-3) against No. 10 Butler Community College (47-6) and No. 2 Chattanooga State Technical Community College (56-7) against South Georgia College (33-19).
Winn-Ratliff said it will be a tough tournament and the key is staying out of the loser’s bracket. The tournament in double elimination with the championship slated for Noon on Saturday
“We have our hands full. There are 16 teams that are in this tournament that are phenomenal and you don’t want anything more than that,” she said. “We are in the bracket with the No. 1 seed. A lot of people wouldn’t be happy with that, but we are happy to be here and we want our kids to know that no matter what ranking [seed] that we got, we just need to go out and continue doing what we have been doing all year, find ways to score runs, contain the other teams and play defense.”
Win or lose their opening game, the Cougars will face either Tallahassee or San Jacinto-South. If they lose, they will play Thursday at 4 p.m., and if they win they will play Thursday at 6 p.m.
Winn-Ratliff said it will take six games to win it all if you stay in the winner’s bracket. Otherwise, a team could be playing a lot of softball battling their way through the loser’s bracket.
“It will be tough. Obviously, any tournament you are in, you have to avoid the bottom bracket and fight as hard as you can in the top bracket,” she said. “It will make it a tough road for us if we can’t find a way to find a way to be victorious in game one, but we just need to go out and do the little things right.”
The Cougars are set to fly to Florida Tuesday morning for the 3-day national tournament.
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