The Western Nebraska Community College and Chadron State College softball teams will open the fall season Saturday at the WNCC Cougar Classic at Volunteer Field in Scottsbluff. The two Panhandle colleges will meet in the first game of the four-team round-robin classic. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. The Classic continues through Sunday.
Other games on Saturday will see Chadron State facing North Platte Community College at Noon, McCook Community College taking on WNCC at 2 p.m. and North Platte meeting McCook at 4 p.m.
Action Sunday has WNCC facing McCook at 9 a.m., Chadron State meeting McCook at 11 a.m., North Platte taking on Chadron State at 1 p.m. and the WNCC wrapping up the Classic at 3 p.m. against North Platte.
WNCC opens the fall season with 13 players on the roster with just two sophomores on the team. Ashley Eichelberger returns from last year’s record-setting team, while Jessica Ventoza transferred from Highline Community College in Washington. The other members of the team are first-year players, and Douglas, Wyo., freshman Jessica Pexton said she is anxious for the season to start.
“I’m really excited for the season to start, because we have a great group of girls with a lot of talent,” she said. “We have really good team chemistry and we are going to dominate this year!”
Pexton will also compete against her high school teammates Bobbi Bath and Amber Tucker, freshmen for Chadron State.
“It will be interesting to play against these girls again because I played on the field with them for four years,” she said. “They are good players and it will be an exciting change to play against them.”
Pexton’s reunion is just one of many for players this weekend. Several players will be back in Scottsbluff after outstanding high school careers at Scottsbluff, Gering and Chadron high schools.
Chadron State has four players returning including Chadron High’s all-star duo of Cassie Humphrey and Katelyn Moore. Humphrey was the Star-Herald softball player of the year for three consecutive years, while Moore was the top shortstop in the region. The Eagles also feature Gering’s Linsey Trackwell and Scottsbluff’s Melanie Michael.
North Platte features three area players. Returning to the Knights this season are Scottsbluff’s Jenn Lang and Chadron’s Sasha Catches. Chadron’s Carmen Barth is also a member of the North Platte team.
Pexton said it should be an interesting tournament and after two weeks of practice, it will be nice to play games for real.
“Practice has been going really well,” she said. “We get along so well on and off the field, so it will be exciting to finally play in a game this weekend and see how we do.”
Pexton is one of just five pitchers on the Cougar team this year, which will be one of team’s strengths.
“Our pitching staff looks very strong this year and with five pitchers, we will be able to use the variety that we have,” she said. “If we show one pitcher against a team, we then can throw a different one against them later on so they will never know what to expect. We also have good, solid defense and it is going to be hard for the opponents to score on us.”
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