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Bison softball girls rally for 5th at Holdrege Invite
HOLDREGE, Nebraska -- The youthful McCook High School girls softball debutants may have had their coming-out party Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Holdrege Invitational.
The Bison girls bounced back from a disappointing early-morning loss to win two games and finish fifth in the annual early-season Holdrege event.
McCook opened with a 15-6 loss to Gering, then topped Minden, 10-2, and rolled past Hastings, 9-2, in the consolation bracket finals.
The song lyrics say "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," and perhaps the Bison were having too much fun in their pre-game warm-ups heading into Saturday's later games. Head coach Jason Cochran said his team received a motivational speech from assistant Craig Dickes, and whatever words were used seems to light a fire under the Bison.
The McCook girls regained their focus and romped to a pair of relatively easy wins.
"Now they are showing us where we think we should be," Cochran said. "We're very close to it. Our pitchers came out and threw strikes, our defense came out and played -- even those few hard line shots, we can defend those, but we can't defend walks. And so our pitchers came out and threw the way they should. Now if they can improve it's going to be a great thing.
"Our defense, they see where we're at and are starting to make the plays. We only had one or two errors, if we start cleaning that up.... They all saw that the discipline -- they want to have fun, but discipline brings the fun because we compete, and when we compete we have fun. It's when you get your butts kicked by an inferior team that nobody has fun no matter who you are.
"I think they might have made a huge connection tonight, and now I expect it out of them."
No seniors on roster
Growing pains, baby steps, phrases that may describe the experience of the McCook girls softball team early in the 2011 season. The Bison girls, 3-5, have no seniors on this year's team, and Coach Cochran is looking for his juniors to step up into team leadership roles.
"We just talked (post-game team meeting)," Cochran said following Saturday's win over Hastings, "and I asked them, 'What do we need to do? I don't want to be a yeller and a chewer. But is that what you need?' They said, 'No, we will come prepared.' So they may have made a huge step today.
"We have some very good going-to-be leaders, we've worked very hard at that. But missing your seniors that say, 'Hey this is what we do, this is how we do it. You're not warming up correctly, let's go!' When it comes from a junior, it probably doesn't mean as much as when it comes from a senior. I've got some hammers, I've got some great hammers, and they are going to be good leaders. It's hard to follow that junior, but they're starting to earn it.
"We'll start cleaning up the play, and you hopefully saw the beginning of the new Bison. It bugs me that we lost to Gering, but if we learn from it and advance from it, it could be the best thing that happened for us."
Tournament game summaries
Gering scored runs in every inning to claim the five-inning, nine-run win early Saturday morning.
McCook was out-hit 10-8 and committed three errors.
Marisa Esch had three hits to lead the Bison.
Sophomore pitcher Alli sheets took the loss after working 3 1/3 innings and surrendering 13 runs on 8 hits. Sophomore Maddie Elder pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs and 2 hits.
McCook jumped all over Minden in the consolation bracket semifinals. The Bison led 4-0 after two innings, then scored four more runs in the third and two more in the fourth.
McCook had 12 hits, led by Becca Sehnert with three hits and Esch with two. Sehnert, Megan Ruppert and Sam Kalinski each drove in two runs to pace the McCook attack.
Elder picked up the mound win, as Maddie gave up a single hit and just 2 walks with 6 strikeouts in five innings.
McCook got off to another strong start in the consolation final against Hastings, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Madison Chitwood hit an RBI double, while the Bison scored the other two runs on ground balls by Ruppert and Kylie Allen.
Hastings rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, then McCook came back with four runs in the top of the fourth helped by RBI hits by Brittany Broomfield and Ruppert. The Bison helped ice the win with two more runs in the fifth on a slapped base hit by Cassa Broomfield and a passed ball.
Ruppert knocked in three runs and Chitwood added a pair of RBI to lead the Bison against Hastings.
Sheets was the winning pitcher, as she worked four innings and allowed 4 hits and 2 runs, with 4 walks and 3 strikeouts. Elder pitched the final inning, allowing a hit and no runs with 2 strikeouts.
Defensive key inning
McCook turned in a key defensive series in the bottom of the fourth inning. Hastings loaded the bases with no out. Catcher Sam Kalinski tagged out a Hastings runner at home after a passed ball ricocheted back to her quickly. After a walk re-loaded the bases, Allen stepped in front of the Hastings base runner at second to catch a bloop fly ball for the second out. The next batter grounded to Sheets on the mound, who threw to first to get McCook out of the inning without giving up a run.
"They had bases loaded and an opportunity to bring them in with zero outs, and we shut them down," Cochran said. "We are capable -- they (McCook players) are scary as far as their upside. But like Craig (Dickes) said, 'We're in a tall skyscraper and we're on the bottom floor and we could go -- the sky's the limit. But we need to get there, and I think we just might have hit the first floor today.
"I hope they live up to what they've said, and that they will come prepared every day and keep working."
McCook was coming off a split Thursday, Aug. 25, in games with Omaha squads in Hastings. The Bison lost to Omaha Skutt Catholic, 14-3, and beat Omaha Gross Catholic, 10-9.
Busy week ahead
The McCook girls have a busy week, with a trip to Cozad Tuesday, Aug. 30, to face the Haymakers in junior varsity and varsity games set to begin at 5 p.m. The Bison host Holdrege Thursday, Sept. 1, at the Jaycees Sports Complex, then host the McCook Invitational Saturday, Sept. 3.