WAUSA – The Wausa Vikings 18s softball team recently capped off another busy week with a top-three finish at the district tournament.
Wausa went 3-2 on the weekend at the 2024 USA Softball of Nebraska District Tournament, which was held June 7-9 in Pierce, and finished in third place.
As of the morning of June 11, Wausa’s coaches were not sure which Nebraska 16/18U Girls’ Fast-Pitch State Tournament in Hastings their team was going to compete in next month, but it will be either Class C or Class D.
Wausa will either play at the USA Softball of Nebraska Complex July 5-7 in the Class C state tournament or July 12-14 in the Class D state tournament.
In the district tournament, Wausa defeated the Verdigre Stingers 10-2, lost to the Creighton Thunder 10-1 and beat the Crofton 18s 8-5 on June 8. Then Wausa defeated the Hartington Penguins 14-1 and lost to Creighton again, this time by a score of 2-0, on June 9.
The North Central Nebraska Lightning beat Creighton 10-1 in the district final and won the tournament with a 5-0 record, while Creighton placed second with a 3-2 record.
“The girls played some really good competition this weekend,” Wausa head coach Shelbey West said. “A lot of the teams we’ve already seen or will see down the road, but nonetheless, the competition was stiff.”
Her only real disappointment from the weekend was Wausa’s loss to Creighton on June 8.
“I wasn’t disappointed in the loss,” Shelbey West said. “Creighton is a solid team and it’s always a battle when we play them. I just didn’t feel like we played up to our own standard and that just doesn’t sit well with you as a coach. We didn’t execute some situational things very well, we didn’t communicate well on defense and I didn’t feel like we were very aggressive on the bases. We just weren’t ourselves, but we learn and we move on. “Throw that game aside and we played at a championship level all weekend,” she said. “Liv Barta and Sienna West are really starting to turn into quite the one-two combo on the mound for us. It really is a game changer to have two starting-caliber pitchers like we do when it comes to tournament time. The girls still seem to be swinging it pretty well for the most part, but we need a few of them to get back to how they were hitting it a few weeks ago.” She noted simple things like some tee work and “getting back to hitting off the machine can go a long way towards finding their swings again and gaining that confidence back at the plate.”
“I’m excited to see how big of a step we can take between now and our league tournament at the end of June,” Shelbey West said. “We can’t get complacent. We have to continue to grow and take a step forward as a team if we want to reach some of the goals we’ve set out to accomplish.”
In other recent softball action, the Wausa 18s won 9-6 at the Ponca 18s on June 6 and beat Crofton 8-2 at home on June 4.
“The girls had some big moments this week,” Shelbey West said. “Our older girls’ two wins during the week against Crofton and Ponca were really special performances. All around, we just played really good softball.
“Our offense continues to click, which makes life easier on defense,” she said. “We are able to play freely and go make plays on defense because our girls know that a mistake here or there isn’t going to cost us.”
She noted Wausa has plenty of firepower on offense to put up five-plus runs at any given time.
“When you think like that, it allows you to go make those plays on defense without a fear of failure,” Shelbey West said. “Beating Ponca and Crofton was a huge hurdle for our girls as well. We have struggled beating those two programs in the past, so to not only beat one of them, but both of them during the week was a huge momentum lift for the girls.”
The Wausa Vikings 14/16s softball team lost 9-8 at Ponca on June 6 and defeated Crofton at home 15-7 on June 4.
“The younger girls went 1-1 this week against some pretty good competition, so it’s hard to complain,” Wausa assistant coach Capp Bengston said. “The main thing for this group is to just continue to grow and continue to get reps, whether that’s game reps or practice reps.”
He noted everyone on the team can see the potential that Wausa has in the younger girls.
“It’s just a matter of them getting more consistent with everything they do,” Bengston said. “One thing they always do is play hard, and Avery Stevens and Izzy Seagren have really settled into strong starters on the mound for this group. It helps when you have two girls that can go out there and throw strikes on a consistent basis. It gives you a chance to win on any given night.”
The Wausa 18s were 11-6 overall on the season going into a home game against the Osmond Tigers on June 11. The Wausa 14/16s were 4-4 overall on the season going into a home game against Osmond on June 11 and will host Laurel on June 13.
