Strong Rebels softball run coming to a close

A successful chapter of McCook Rebels girls softball will draw to a close on the home turf.

The McCook Rebels 18-Under team will compete with five other teams for top honors in the annual McCook Rebels State Prep ASA girls fast-pitch tournament at the Jaycees Sports Complex. The tournament is scheduled Saturday and Sunday, June 25-26.

The core group of Rebels 18's players have been together since Lance Gillen and Bill Saalfeld started coaching the team as the Rebels 10-Under squad in the fall of 2002. The team recently recorded its 200th victory, and nearly a decade of softball excellence will come to a close at the McCook tournament Saturday and Sunday.

Gillen said Ambrette Burkey, Meagan Carfield, Amanda Einspahr, Kelsey Gillen, Taylor Matson, Erin Premer and Jaci Saalfeld have been with his team since started in the 10-under age division. Gretchen Sehnert joined the Rebels in the 14-Under division a few years ago, and Hailey Esch was added when the team competed in the 16-Under division.

Rachel Bradley also joined the Rebels team in 2006, but Bradley is not playing this summer.

Skyler Mengel from Colby, Kansas, has also competed with the Rebels the past two summers, and Bre Messersmith of Gothenburg joined this year.

Terry Einspahr also joined the coaching staff when the team competed in the 12-Under division.

"We've had some girls drop out, but that core group of girls have been there from the start," Coach Gillen said.

Of course, the McCook players have been key members of the McCook High School Bison squads in recent years, and most of those players graduated last spring.

About 500 career games

Gillen said that the core group of this year's Rebels 18-Under team have participated in one way or another in nearly 500 softball games at the high school varsity and junior varsity levels plus the nine seasons of summer play.

Gillen's squad has been competitive at Nebraska ASA fast-pitch state meets through the years. But the Rebels won't play at state this season. Successful teams in the state can be bumped up to Class A the following season, and that's happened to the Rebels this season and several times in the past.

The problem this year is the Class A state meet is also scheduled this weekend, and the Rebels 18's decided to stay at home and forego another state meet run.

"We just wanted to finish it out at home," Gillen said. "We've hosted this tournament for a few years, and we want to support the people hosting it now."

Gillen said the team hasn't had lengthy discussions about the fact that this weekend will be their final hurrah playing together after a great run through the Rebels summer age-group program. He hopes that the veteran team has been a strong influence on the younger Rebels teams, just like the older Rebels teams were to this group of girls in past years.

"When you go and watch all these younger girls play, you like to think that our girls influenced them in a positive way, hopefully kind of like the older girls did," Gillen said.

"Some of these girls had older sisters that played on Rebels teams, watching them, and wanting to be like that and be as successful as they were. We've told them how they've had an influence, hopefully positive, on a lot of young kids."

Because of a small number of entries, State Prep Tournament officials decided to combine the 18-Under and 16-Under entries for this weekend's round-robin competition, in order to give those teams more games. The Rebels 18's will face their McCook 16-Under counterparts to open the 18-Under/16-Under combined division Saturday at 8 a.m. at the Jaycees Complex southeast field.

Gillen is expecting a tough test from the younger Rebels.

"The 16-Under Rebels won the Seward tournament last week, so they're playing really well," Gillen said. "At batting practice the other night, we told the girls that we have to show up ready to play, because the other Rebel team is playing well, and 8 o'clock games, they're sometimes it's kind of scary to see which team will show up at 7 o'clock to warm up. Hopefully we'll get them running right away, get the blood flowing and be ready to play."

Road warriors

The Rebels 18's have put on many miles through the years competing in tournaments all over the state.

"When they were younger, the 12's and 14's, those years, we played a lot of games," Gillen said. "Our first year of 14's, we probably played around 50 to 55 games."

This McCook group has been very successful, with a fourth-place finish at the Class A state tournament in their second summer competing in the 14-Under age division. The Rebels also were Class B state runner-ups in their first year of 14-Under competition, and fourth in Class A in their second year of 12-Under and fourth in Class B in their second year of 16-Under competition.

Past Rebels teams played a part in the success of the current Rebels 18's squad. Gillen said early in his Rebels coaching career, he attended a scheduling meeting with other Rebels coaches, including veterans such as Chris Wallace and Earl Roberts.

"They said they were trying to find tournaments where they could find decent competition, and we were just worrying about being competitive," Gillen said. "That kind of puts a little bit of pressure on you, because of how successful those other (McCook) teams were.

"Our first year in 10-Under (2003), later in the year Mark Friehe and Scott Walker's team won Western Nationals in Hastings. That really sets the bar high when you go into the Hall of Fame down there in Hastings and see a Rebels jersey there honoring that national championship team."

Strong support

Gillen said much of the success for his team through the years comes from the support of other parents involved with the program.

"How much work has gone into it from the other parents," he said. "We were told a long time ago, 'When you're picking a team, you should pick the parents first.' We've been so lucky how much they support the girls. The parents all love softball a lot."

Gillen said team parents have been instrumental in conducting successful fund-raising events and other activities, and being there supporting the team through the years.

"In 2006, we were taking pictures in Hastings (state) and everybody there that was supporting us," Gillen said, "aunts, uncles, friends, cousins, whatever, how many people were there for one team supporting us. I'm sure there were a hundred people there. That's just great when you go out of town that far and have that many people there supporting you. That's what makes it fun -- it just makes it easier when you have that much support from everybody."

This weekend will certain be more of the same for one of the most successful McCook Rebels softball teams in the history of the summer age-group program.

Tournament action

This weekend's State Prep Tournament at the Jaycees Complex will see competition in three age divisions -- 12-Under, 14-Under plus the 16-Under and 18-Under combined. A total of 18 teams representing McCook, Holdrege, Lexington, North Platte, Kearney, Hastings and Grand Island are scheduled to compete.

Tournament action is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. each day, with Saturday's final games set to start at 8 p.m., and Sunday's final games starting at 5 p.m.

Admission fees will be charged at the Jaycees Complex, with a daily ticket price of $5 for each adult and $3 for each student. Children ages 5 years and under will be admitted free of charge.

The teams in each division will play a round-robin schedule, facing each of the other teams in the respective divisions. Tournament champions in the three divisions will be determined by round-robin results, with the following tie-breaking criteria: head-to-head results, runs allowed, runs scored and a coin flip if necessary.

In addition to the Rebels 18-Under and 16-Under teams, three McCook teams will enter the 14-Under division, including the McCook Rebels Black, McCook Rebels Red and the McCook Stealerz. The 12-Under Division will have three local teams -- the McCook Rebels, McCook Rebels Pink and the McCook Thunder .