Menu
Bison learn to relax and cover all the bases
McCOOK, Neb. — Crying?! There’s no crying in softball especially when you already can’t see the first big moment of your McCook High softball career.
“I was playing third base and the sun was in my eyes,” she said while most recent all-conference third baseman Trinity Raburn clearly recognized this blind moment. “We were playing GICC in our home tournament and I know they hit one at me. I put my glove up and caught it. It was right at my face. Pure self-defense.”
Imagine all those terrified squeals from Coleman’s despised TV show “The Bachelor” which she revealed in an exclusive Gazette interview Wednesday evening.
“I like the Bachelorette better because the girls are so whiny (on the Bachelor). I’ve watched every show on Netflix,” she boldly revealed in an exclusive Gazette interview. “And they’re not filming it (the Bachelorette) this year and I’m super bummed.”
Throw a plate of spaghetti before Coleman and her mood will improve about most anything.
Toss in one of Bison swim coach Jon Graff’s grapefruits and she’ll quickly appreciate conquering tough challenges like third base even more.
“Coach Graff not only eats grapefruits without sugar or anything, he eats like the little papery fleshy things around it,” she said. “He’s kind of strange. But it’s true once you eat that, grapefruits aren’t so bad.”
Raburn would prefer a good cheesecake while watching good investigative crime shows.
She played the oppositeside of McCook’s infield last fall while Coleman took first base.
Both also played catcher during their diamond careers where they learned how catching fastballs with “cold glove hands” was not much fun.
They also show some cool polar opposites in daily routines:
1. Coleman was a three-time Class B state swimming qualifier who learned missing spaghetti during team meals wasn’t always bad.
“We had chili and soup one time and I didn’t really care that much for it’,” she admitted. “But then we broke a relay meet record so I thought ‘okay’.”
Meanwhile, Raburn confirms her best swimming skills is probably a slow but determined “doggy paddle”.
Yet she’ll soon be attacking all sorts of obstacles while being Air Force Reserve pursuits.
“My uncle was an Air Force man and my dad was military,” she explained. “I want to serve my country in some way.”
Meanwhile, Coleman plans on serving youth and families as moves on to the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
Her initial goals are to study pyschology and social work with a focus on working with kids.
“I like working with kids, they’re a little less judgmental,” C.C. explained. “It’s a way to help people.”
Raburn’s other favorite sports are MMA and hockey besides basketball.
Coleman only wishes volleyball had been a springtime sport rather than fall with softball because...
“I hate to run,” she said and Raburn again clearly agreed on this point. “I have to say running cross country takes a lot of guts.”
Both scored plenty of runs during their softball careers, whether it was Bison fall ball or summers as McCook Rebels or McCook Force team members.
Coleman helped the Rebels 18-and-under softball team win an ASA state title in 2018.
Yet another state run will always be her No. 1 McCook memory.
“Definitely winning districts my sophomore year was the best. We rallied and beat North Platte twice — great especially because it was North Platte,” she said. “Then we went to state and beat Skutt...or I mean (Class B No. 1) Elkhorn South.”
Raburn was still building up her diamond experience on that 2017 Bison state tourney team.
She’s ventured a long ways from being focused almost entirely on basketball as her sport.
Even better is how two younger sisters Isabel and Faith Raburn will be part of Trinity’s summer softball team.
Their talents cover so many bases beyond a softball team.
Trinity’s part of the McCook High technology team, social media team, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes besides donating blood along with other activities.
Candace has been busy in National Honor Society, FCA, math club, FCA, Bison Leadership Group, Southwest Leadership Institute and Youth Change Reaction.
Softball has helped them excel because of other big word:
Confidence.
“The best thing I could say is relax, don’t worry too much,” Raburn said with Coleman agreeing. “That was a big key.”