There are plenty of questions to be answered for this year’s Western Nebraska Community College softball team as they prepare for their season-opener this weekend in Las Vegas, Nev. One thing for certain, though, the Cougar team won’t be trying to hide from anyone after the NJCAA pre-season softball polls were released today. WNCC enters the season ranked No. 10 in the nation after posting a 54-10 record a year ago and capturing the regional title, the first for the program.
“There is definitely high expectations this season,” sophomore pitcher Kelsey Garner said. “We want to do the same or even better than last year. We want to win regionals and do better at nationals. But, because we have such a young team, the season will be kind of new to everybody.”
The Cougars, with just three returners from last year’s championship team, will open the season in a 3-day tournament in Las Vegas. The tournament will feature four ranked teams, including WNCC.
The Cougars will face North Idaho College, No. 13 Southern Nevada and No. 20 Salt Lake Community College on Friday, will face Snow College on Saturday and then wrap up the tournament facing Palomar College and No. 5 Yavapai College on Sunday.
Garner, who captured Region IX Freshman and Player of the Year honors a year ago, is excited to begin the season. Garner was recently tabbed a NJCAA pre-season first team selection at pitcher.
“I am really excited to open the season in Vegas because I have never been there before and it will be good competition,” she said. “There will be lots of good teams down there that have gone to nationals before. They should be good hitting teams and good competition.”
Even Cougar coach Maria Winn-Ratliff is anxious to see what her team can accomplish in the season-opening competition.
“There are some top level teams in the tourney and we hope to go out and be able to compete with them,” Winn-Ratliff said.
Since the team returned from the holiday break, they have been progressing well, enduring two and sometime three-a-day practices. This is the earliest the team has started play. The Cougars also have been benefited with some outdoor practiced because of the recent 60 degree temperatures, which saw them get in plenty of defensive work.
“They are progressing at a rate that our staff would expect this time of year,” she said. “We are very young in numbers but have seen some very positive progression.”
Garner is even excited with the potential this team has.
“We have pretty much kept the same hard work and intensity that we have been doing since we have been back from Christmas,” she said. “If we can keep that up, we can win regionals.”
What makes this team something to watch is the amount of depth the team will possess.
“We have a lot of good position players that can play all over the place,” Garner said. “We have a lot of young players. Right now we are not sure of how the experience will be with teams. But we have quite a bit of depth. We have four players that can play third baseman and firstbase. It is like any one can play the corners and anyone can play the middle of the infield.”
Even Winn-Ratliff is impressed with the potential talent of the team.
“We have a very aggressive and explosive group that has the potential to captivate some quality regional wins,” the fifth year head coach said. “Our infield will be comprised of all new comers with very athletic outfielders. The battery [catchers] will relay in newcomers behind the plate, plus we will see quality innings in the circle as well.”
The big key for the season, though, is getting the young players the experience. WNCC only returns three players from a year ago in Garner, and outfielders Lauryn Smith and Alec Voci.
The team also has a couple of transfers that will contribute to the team this season. The transfers include pitcher Christy Degano, from Surrey, British Columbia; infielder Kelly Pearson of Denver, and utility player Chara Horsley of Loveland, Colo. Horsley arrived this semester from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and is a freshman.
The rest of the squad consists of new blood with plenty of talent. The team will be centered around the pitchers, including Garner, who is entering her second year as the No. 1 pitcher. Garner, the right-handed flamethrower from Regina, Saskatchewan, had an outstanding freshman campaign, finishing with a 32-4 record and setting school records in innings pitched (208.33), wins (32), strikeouts (259), and ERA (1.32). She also earned two NJCAA Pitcher-of-the-Week honors last season, including coming within one batter of throwing a perfect game.
Garner said pitching could be one of their strengths.
“We have four really pitchers,” she said. “Everyone can through really hard and do well in any situation.”
The other two pitchers besides sophomores Garner and Degano, include pitcher/outfielder Casey Simpson of Nokomis, Saskatchewan, and Stephanie Townsend of Roosevelt, Utah.
The rest of the team includes first baseman Brenda Hearn of Tijeros,N.M.; outfielder Adena Hagen of Birch Hills, Saskatchewan; third baseman Jaclyn Bourdon of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan; infielder/outfielder Megan Burditt of Las Alamos, N.M.; catcher Tiffany Lookabill of Spokane,
Wash.; catcher/first baseman Alyssa Hickey of Boulder, Colo.; Infielder Tonya Atencio of Morrison, Colo.; shortstop Katie Groves of Bluffdale, Utah; infielder Brittany Chacon of Broomfield, Colo.; and catcher Sofia Gomez of Riverton, Utah.
Garner said that the strengths of this team will be their defense and hitting.
“I think we can be really strong hitters and our defense is really strong,” she said. “We just have to know when to sell out on defense and know where the plays are at. We have to visual the play before we get the ball. I think there will be more long balls hit as even the smaller girls on the team can hit pretty hard. I think we will have a good hitting team.”
After this weekend’s contests, the team will have a couple weeks to fine-tune things before heading to the Cowtown Classic in Dallas Feb. 13-14. After that, the team will have a road trip to Kansas. The Cougars home-opener will be March 17 when they face Black Hills State College.
Winn-Ratliff said that she doesn’t expect the team to win all their games, especially this weekend, with such a young team. But she wants the team to continue improving to put them in a position to capture a second straight regional title.
“We want to get all our new team members to compete as cohesive unit on consistent basis to attain our goal of Region IX Champions,” she said. “Our team goal is to go out and be able to
compete on a daily basis to put us in good position for the Region IX Tournament.”
Winn-Ratliff is excited for this season, and believes this team can compete for a regional title.
“If we can stay focused and healthy we have as good of chance as any team to win regionals,” she said. “I think that every player on the team is going to be counted on throughout the season. It will take teamwork, good decisions at the plate, hard work, and dedication on defensive. Our team goal is to go out and be able to compete on a daily basis to put us in good position for the Region IX Tournament.”
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