WAUSA – The Wausa 18s softball team opened its 2024 season with a 4-2 win over Creighton on May 15.
Wausa pitcher Sienna West got the start on the bump and threw a complete game. Creighton started the game scoring two quick runs in the first inning on a couple of Wausa errors.
“The girls came out a little tense,” Wausa head coach Shelbey West said. “They just made a few uncharacteristic plays that cost us a couple of early runs. But they did a great job of settling in and limiting the damage to two in that first inning.”
Wausa punched back in the second stanza with a lead-off double from Sienna West and eventually scored two runs in the inning to tie the game up at two.
Addi Sporleader and Peyton Privett each drove in RBI singles for Wausa, which eventually held on for the win.
“This was a great start to the season for our 18s,” Shelbey West said. “This is a team with a lot of expectations for themselves after they’ve had a pair of third-place finishes in their careers at the state tournament.
“We know what it takes to win down at Hastings (the site of the state tournament),” she said. “I really think the girls have made strides in some areas of weakness in the past.”
The coach described Creighton as “a really good team.”
“The pitchers for both teams threw well and there weren’t a lot of hits or free bases by either team, which means you have to grind out runs and just find a way to win,” Shelbey West said. “That’s exactly what our girls did.
“Holly Johnson probably played one of the best games of her career defensively,” she said. “I’d say she made five or six big plays for us that stopped what could’ve been big innings for Creighton.”
Shelbey West noted as the season goes on, Wausa’s bats will come around.
“It was good for us to have to manufacture some runs early in the season like this,” she said. “We were aggressive reading balls in the dirt and stealing bags on offense, and after our few errors in the first inning, we were dialed in on defense. In low-scoring games, your margin of error is so small. So I love games like this to prepare us for tough games late in the season.”
Assistant coach Jared Wiebelhaus mentioned pitcher Sienna West’s performance. She threw all five innings for Wausa and recorded five strikeouts and zero walks on the night.
“Sienna was so solid for us on the mound,” Wiebelhaus said. “She has been a steady piece to this program for years, and our girls know that when she’s on the mound, she always gives us a good chance to win. I feel like Sienna is really starting to learn how important it is to hit spots and get weak contact from opposing hitters.
“Not everybody can get on the mound and just throw it by people, but she has learned how to be an effective pitcher by pitching to contact and relying on her teammates behind her,” he said. “We have a really good group of girls on defense, which makes our pitcher’s job really easy on the mound.”
As for stats from the game, Wausa out-hit Creighton 5 to 3 for the contest. Wausa players who recorded a hit were Addi Sporleader, 2; Sienna West, 1; Holly Johnson, 1; and Abby Kaiser, 1.
