WNCC softball ready for home series with Trinidad

                After weeks on the road, the Western Nebraska Community College softball team will be playing its first games at Volunteer Field this weekend when Trinidad State College comes to Scottsbluff.

                The Cougars will host the Trojans in a 4-games series. Saturday’s first pitch is slated for 1 p.m. with Sunday’s first pitch beginning at 11 a.m.

                WNCC sophomore second baseman said Bailey Blanchard said the team is excited to be playing at home for the first time this season.

                “Being able to play at home is one of the best feelings in the game of softball,” Blanchard said. “It is a chance for us to show everyone how much we’ve grown. The team is extremely excited to be able to play at volunteer field. Our freshman have never played a conference game at home before. I am so excited for them to feel the rush of playing together on a field that we have worked so hard on all year.”

                Freshman Victoria Wharton said the team is looking forward to showing the local fans the talent on the Cougar team this weekend.

“We couldn’t be more excited to finally play at home,” she said. “We have put in countless hours of hard work at Volunteer Field. This weekend, we get the opportunity to play in front of our community and supporters. The atmosphere of our field on game day is unmatched. We are ready to bring a lot of energy and heart this weekend.”

                WNCC just got back from a Spring Break that saw the Cougars play 10 games in eight days. The Spring Break trip started as the team took three of four conference games from Lamar Community College on March 12-13 followed by games in Texas and Louisiana where the Cougars went 2-6.

“During spring break, our team made a few ripples in the softball community,” Blanchard said. “We beat multiple teams who were receiving top 25 votes in the country. Not all of our games went as we would have liked. However, we showed that we can play with the best and beat the best. It was a good week where we were able to learn and grow together. It was a good trip to lead us into conference play.”

Wharton agreed that they really grew as a team during Spring Break.

“We learned a lot as a team over Spring Break,” Wharton said. “This trip brought us closer as we battled it out on the field together. We will take our wins and losses into account as we prepare for the rest of this season.”

WNCC is 5-3 in the conference and played Trinidad State in the Region IX Pod Conference Classic on March 4, topping the Trojans 10-4. WNCC is 10-18 overall while Trinidad State is 9-14 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

Trinidad State is the defending Region IX champs and the Cougars know they have to be on the top of their game.

“Trinidad is a good team. They kicked us out of the region IX tournament last year, and went on to win the whole thing,” Blanchard said. “In order pick up wins we have to take care of our pitching staff. To do so, we have to field the ball behind them, and find ways to score when it’s our turn. They are a good hitting team, but we are better. When our team plays together there is no stopping us.”

For Wharton, it is not a batter of what Trinidad does, it is how they play.

“We just need to play our game,” she said. “We have worked extremely hard up until this point. As long as we execute everything we have worked on, we will be hard to beat.”

This is the point in in the season where the games matter in terms of seeding for the Region IX tournament in May.

“All of our conference games throughout May and April are extremely important,” Blanchard said. “We want to be the best in our conference and host the Region IX tournament at Volunteer Field. In order to do so, we have to win the vast majority of our conference games. We have extremely high goals of our team this year and it all starts with winning our conference games.”

Wharton said they just need to compete in every game the rest of the season.

“It is important that we go out and compete every game moving forward,” she said. “As long as we do that, we will put ourselves in a good position for the rest of the season. Together we go.”