Area teams fight till the end in Home Tournament
Broken Bow- The Spirit Softball teams got their first taste of tournament play this year at the second annual Spirit of the Sandhills Tournament July 12-13. Spirit White 16-18U went 2-3, Spirit Blue were 0-4, Spirit 14U was 2-3, and Spirit 12U was 3-3.
The crazy storm that blew through July 11 canceled the first day of the tournament and then rain tried to do the same thing July 13 to no avail.
After being rained out Friday, Spirit White played host to Flames of NE in their first game of the tournament. Kennedy Garcia helped the White jump in front early on in the first with a double.
Another double scored both Garcia and Mya Weverka who was walked.
The third and final two base dinger was by Kaylee Petersen on a line drive to left. Katie Holcomb scored, making it 4-0 after the first.
They added three more runs over three innings and on the mound, Weverka went four innings giving up one run and no earned in a 7-1
victory.
Game two for Spirit White was a makeup of a July 11 game vs the Sandhills Sharks. It was a rematch of a game they had lost 5-2 back on June 23.
Spirit White fell behind early 2-0 to the Sharks. Irelyn Rosfeld bunted and reached safely on a fielder’s choice. She eventually came around to score and cut the lead to one after two.
A three-run home run by the Sandhills Sharks to start the third took back the momentum that Spirit White was gaining. In the end, it was a 6-1 victory for the Sharks in five.
One more late game against the Prowlers wrapped up day one for Spirit White. Even though the clock showed 11 p.m., the home’s teams bats were wide awake, as they scored a half dozen runs in the first.
After a single by Joscelyn Coleman, she was able to steal and around the base pads and score on a wild pitch. Singles by Kate Holcomb, Petersen, and Rosfeld resulted in the other five scores.
It was smooth sailing from there, as Spirit White won 11-1.
The success they found late Saturday, did not translate over to Sunday’s championship bracket game. They lost to Cozad in a heartbreaker 2-1 in six innings.
Early on Cozad gained the 1-0 lead and Spirit White took it back when Weverka scored on a fielder’s choice bunt by Rosfeld.
In extras, a runner was placed on second. One single for Cozad was enough to drive in the winning run.
In their final game, Spirit White struggled against another good pitcher Rystrom for the Polk County Slammers, and as a result, fell 2-0.
“She had a lot of movement on her pitches and we were still hitting them, but some of those hits weren’t going as far as they usually do,” Head coach Ryan Coleman said.
Spirit Blue couldn’t find a way to get their first win in the tournament over the weekend. A major problem for them was scoring runs.
In game one against Polk County, the Slammers dropped in eight runs in the second and never looked back in a 11-1 victory. Victoria Coleman scored the only run in the fourth when she was walked and driven by Avery Campbell later on in the inning.
Against the Chadron Slammers in their final game of the day Saturday, Spirit Blue put together their best performance.
They took a 1-0 nothing lead in the top of the second when an error-ridden play allowed Karina Kitt to score from third.
After taking their first lead of the tournament, Spirit Blue couldn’t keep the Slammers down. Simple base hits strung together allowed Chadron to score three in the second and third.
Spirit Blue pulled within one when Shaylee Chilewski singled on a hard ground ball to right field scoring Venessa Coleman.
In the end, Chadron scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning and won 5-2 in four.
Like Spirit White, Spirit Blue was shut out in their final game 7-0 by Twin River.
The Spirit 14U team played inspired softball to begin the tournament on July 11. They’ve been dealing with injuries all season but found a way to scratch out a 4-2 win vs Adam Central and a 3-2 win over the Bandits 3-2.
Against the Bombers, Spirit fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the second but battled back with four runs. Adyson Priest double to center was the deciding factor for Spirit as it brought around two runs.
“These girls wanted it so bad, we’ve been beaten up pretty much all season long and they wanted to get a win coming into the first game of the tournament and they did it,” Head Coach Jenn Schaaf said.
Against the Bandits, Broken Bow had both pitchers Cassidy Schweitzer and Taylor Schaaf out with injuries.
Laney Holcomb kept Spirit in the game only giving up two runs.
With the score tied, a wild pitch allowed Emma Taylor to steal home and help Spirit win 3-2.
They were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday after losing 6-3 to Nebraska Shockwave and 9-2 to the Gothenburg Angels.
The 12U Spirit Softball teams were successful as well, winning both games Saturday against Aurora Edge White 7-6 and Gibbon Mid-Plains Prowlers 7-0. On Sunday they lost to Northwest Voyagers 2-6 and then bouncef back to win 11-8 against Twin River. They were eliminated against Aurora Edge Red, dropping a 5-9 contest.
All the area teams represented themselves well against tough competition from across the state.