Region IX Softball Tournament set to kick off Thursday

With the regular season behind them, the Western Nebraska Community College softball team is ready to embark on the most important part of the season, the Region IX Tournament.

And, for the Cougar women, their record-setting season of winning the league title with an impressive 51-8 overall record, earned them the right to host this year’s tournament which begins Thursday at Volunteer Field.

“The girls are excited to be playing at home and playing in front of their friends and family,” WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. “It is always nice when you play on a field that you are familiar with. No matter where the tournament is, you have to go out and make sure you control the controllables and do the little things right.”

Action is slated to kick off at noon Thursday with the championship game slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday in the double-elimination tournament. First-day contests pit Lamar Community College facing Dawson Community College at noon; Trinidad State Junior College facing McCook at 2 p.m., Otero Junior College meeting North Platte Community College at 4 p.m., and WNCC battling the winner or the Lamar and Dawson game at 6 p.m. WNCC’s contests can be heard on KOZY 101.3 FM and the Internet.

Winn-Ratliff says her team needs to just play their game to be successful.

“We will need to have good production in the circle,” she said. “Our pitchers will really need to work hard. Anyone in this league can score runs, so we will have to really contain them offensively. I am a firm believer that defense wins championships, so obviously you will need to make plays and find a way to push runs across. I don’t think anyone will win this tournament with 1-0 or 2-0 games; it will be a run-production tournament. We will have to put four or five runs on the board to feel comfortable and put us in a good situation.”

WNCC, however, is playing with plenty of saavy, after finishing the regular season at 51-8 and No. 20 in the NJCAA polls. Winn-Ratliff said this team has really come together and now they want to compete at the national tournament in Plant City, Fla., May 15-17. But, it won’t come easy as Otero comes in having won nine of the 10 regional titles, including eight straight.

“I knew this team was special and we tried to go out and face some really good competition in the beginning of the season so see where we matched up and played very well,” she said. “Our Sophomores have done a great job for us this year and wow what production we have gotten out of the circle. We have had some freshman really step and are a balanced attach.”

The Cougars finished the regular season splitting with Iowa Western Community College, the No. 19 team in the nation and the way they played against the Reivers, does bolster the team’s confidence a little bit considering they split the doubleheader. WNCC won the opener 4-1 behind another stellar pitching performance from Kelsey Garner.

“I thought Kelsey did a nice job in the circle containing their hitters,” Winn-Ratliff said. “We were putting the ball in play a lot the first game and just leaving to many runners on but found a way to score in the top of the 7th. In game two, I thought Ashley Patton did a great job for us giving us a 4-1 lead going in to the bottom of the 5th but their offense started to come alive and we couldn’t contain them anymore.”

WNCC lost the second game to Iowa Western 9-5, but played well at the beginning, according to Winn-Ratliff, who is in her fourth year at the helm of the Cougars.

“Offensively for us we swung the bats very well in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead but then I felt like we tried to just coast after that and couldn’t over come their one big inning in the 5th.”

The recent losses should help the Cougars in a way to refocus for the regional tournament. And, losing to or playing a team like Iowa Western, can only be good for the Cougars in the long run as they prepare for the most important part of the season.

“I was not displeased with our team,” she said. “IWCC is a great ball club and they score a lot of runs so I think we did what we had to do in the first game, but need to score more runs in the second game to support our pitching staff. They are the 19th team in the country and to go and split with them at their place is a positive for us. They also lead the country in home runs so I was pleased with our staff that we didn’t allow them to hit any off of us.”

WNCC, on the other hand, has been an extra-base hitting machine this season. The Cougars have already slammed 56 home runs, 21 triples and 124 doubles.

Lauren Mills paces the team in home runs with 12th, which she hit in the win against Iowa Western. Mills also became the career home run leader with the home run on Sunday.

Right behind Mills, through, is Kara Ryman with eight, Amanda Hensley and Alec Voci with seven, Lauren Bourdon with six, and Amanda Torimaru and Jessie McNabb with five.

As for doubles and triples, Torimaru leads the team with five triples followed by Hensley with four. Ryman has a commanding lead with 25 doubles followed by Torimaru with 18 and McNabb with 17 and Bourdon with 15.

While the Cougars are hitting the ball well, they are also getting fine pitching performances. Garner leads the staff with a 28-2-1 record, including 229 strikeouts and an earned run average of 1.17. Garner also had a near-perfect game against North Platte when she faced 22 batters in seven innings. The only blemish to the feat was a fifth-inning lead-off single. Also in the game, she fanned 15 batters, including nine straight at one time.

Right behind Garner, though, is sophomores Ashley Patton and Natasha Dypchey, who have also game up big. Patton has a 6-2 record in 49.67 innings pitched. Patton’s strength is her ability not to walk batters, as she has a kanck for getting ground outs. Patton has an ERA of 1.69, while allowing just 22 runs and striking out 23.

Dypchey comes into the regional tournament with a 12-3-2 mark, and has thrown 91 innings with an ERA of 2.31. Dypchey has struck out 58 batters so far, while walking 30. Dypchey came up big last week in a win against Lamar 12-0, where the Cougars wrapped up hosting the regional tournament.

The key to doing well at the tournament will be staying out of the loser’s bracket and avoiding playing back-to-back-back contests.

“Every coach’s goal is to stay in the winner’s bracket and if you can do that, you are looking at one game a day. For us, if we fall in the loser’s bracket, we are not looking at back-to-back games until Friday or Saturday,” she said. “But we are going to do everything we can to stay in the winner’s bracket and keep doing things we have done all year long.

Admission to the Region IX tournament will be $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.

Tournament Team Capsules
Western Nebraska C.C.
Location: Scottsbluff, Neb.
Mascot: Cougars
Overall Record: 51-8
Conference Record: 23-1
Key Pitchers: Kelsey Garner, 28-2-1 with 229 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.17; Natasha Dypchey, 12-3-2 with 58 strikeouts and ERA of 2.31; Ashley Patton, 6-2 with 23 strikeouts and ERA of 1.69.
Key Players: Jessie McNabb, batting .500 with 17 doubles and five home runs; Lauren Mills, batting .465 with 12 home runs, 51 RBIs and 10 doubles; Amanda Torimaru, batting .440 with 54 RBIs and five home runs; Kara Ryman, batting .438 with eight home runs, 25 doubles and 67 RBIs; Lauren Bourdon, batting .407 with 15 doubles, six home runs and 48 RBIs; Amanda Hensley, batting .364 with seven home runs and four triples, Whittany Foster, batting .359; Lauryn Smith, batting .352 with two home runs and two triples; Mandy Pounds, batting .322; and Alec Voci with 30 RBIs and seven home runs. McNabb, Ryman and Hensley are all headed to Northern Colorado to play next year.

Otero Junior College
Location: La Junta, Colo.
Mascot: Rattlers
Coach: Melissa Perea
Overall Record: 40-12
Conference Record: 21-3
Key Pitchers: Jessie Lessard, sophomore from Elizabeth, Colo., who is headed to Western Oregon, and Stacey Ortiz, freshman from Pueblo, Colo.
Key Players: Becca Diede, shortstop who is headed to Portland State, Alena Martinez, freshman third baseman from Greeley, Colo., Ally Goniea, freshman catcher from Falcon, Colo., Amber Ray, sophomore outfielder who is headed to Colorado State, and Noel Wees, sophomore outfielder who is headed to Northern Colorado.

McCook Community College
Location: McCook, Neb.
Mascot: Indians
Coach: Tyrone Robinson
Overall Record: 29-28
Conference Record: 3-19
Key Pitchers: Erin Kinsey, freshman from Arvada, Colo., with a 9-9 record and a 2.95 ERA; Jessica Martinez, freshman from Los Angeles with an 8-9 record and a 1.32 ERA; and Jennifer Deal, freshman from Sacramento, Calif. With an 8-7 record and 2.37 ERA.
Key Players: Tiffany Lokken, freshman shortstop batting .538 with 12 home runs; Amber Thompson, freshman outfielder batting .480 with 14 home runs and 77 RBIs; Kendra Carmouche, freshman third baseman batting .393 with 47 RBIs; Lauren Leiva, freshman outfielder batting .439 with 19 doubles and 56 RBIs; Jessica Adler, freshman outfielder batting .383 with five home runs and 40 stolen bases; and Jessica Martinez batting .425 with 20 doubles.

Lamar Community College
Location: Lamar, Colo.
Mascot: Lopes
Coach: Craig Brooks
Overall Record: 34-25
Conference Record: 12-12
Key Pitchers: Emily Huhta, freshman from Albuquerque, N.M., with a 16-15 record and a 2.62 ERA, and Brittany Bourque, freshman from Aurora, Colo., with a 15-9 record and a 2.15 ERA.
Key Players: Ashley Duffy, sophomore shortstop, batting .446; Amy Holt, sophomore first baseman batting .490; Samantha Lopez, freshman outfielder batting .476; and Reggie Cadwallader, sophomore outfielder batting .336.

Trinidad State Junior College
Location: Trinidad, Colo.
Mascot: Trojans
Coach: Steve Swazo
Overall Record: 29-20
Conference Record: 13-11
Key Pitchers: Julia Diehl, freshman, has an 8-5 record with 46 strikeouts; Katie Smith, freshman, has an 8-6 record with 55 strikeouts; Jenni Trujillo, sophomore, has a 5-4 record with 32 strikeouts; Rachel Brug, sophomore, has a 3-5 record with 35 strikeouts; Rachel Lovato, freshman had a 3-0 record with 22 strikeouts; and Kelsey Apodaca, freshman, has a 2-0 record. “
Key Players: Kendace Bonner, freshman shortstop, is batting .333 with 14 doubles; Anneliese Lange, sophomore third baseman, is batting .356 with 11 doubles; Nikole Morgan is batting .408 with four home runs and 34 RBIs. Diehl leads the team in hitting (.441) and home runs(9), as she set single season records for hits in a season, at bats, runs scored, RBIs and batting average. Morgan set the single season record for doubles.

North Platte Community College
Location: North Platte, Neb.
Mascot: Knights
Coach: Jack Daniels
Overall Record:
Conference Record: 3-19
Key Pitchers: North Platte has four pitchers listed on their roster. They include sophomores Amanda Brown of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Cristen May of Vidor, Texas, and Ali Hillman of Mountain Home, Idaho, as well as freshman Leigh-Ann Kuwicka of Maple Ridge, British Columbia.

Dawson Community College
Location: Glendive, Mont.
Mascot: Buccaneers
Coach: Dan Harrison
Overall Record: 13-28
Conference Record: 7-17
Key Pitchers: Dawson has three pitchers listed on their roster, including sophomore Debbie Donsbach of Glendive, Mont., and freshmen Brittany Fedler of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and Meghan Dewar of Richmond, British Columbia.