Softball team ready to open season in Texas

Western Nebraska Community College softball team will be beginning the season next week when they head to Texas for a 6-game series.

The Cougars have an experienced squad with just one true freshman in Devyin Priselac of Ft. Collins, Colorado.

The Cougars also have a red-shirt freshman in Baylie Krueger of Swink, Colorado. After that the team will have 12 sophomores of the 14 players on the roster.

Chloe Cronquist, a 3-year sophomore, said this team is excited to get the season started.

“We are excited to finally get to show off all our talents and how hard we have worked,” the sophomore from Blackfoot, Idaho, said. “We have good team chemistry and everyone is important to watch.”

The Cougars will open the season in sunny Texas February 17-19. The Cougars open the season on Friday when they face Temple College and Cisco College followed by games against Coastal Bend College and Western Oklahoma State College on Saturday. The Cougars will finish out the road trip with a double-header at Odessa College on Saturday.

After the opening weekend, the Cougars will next be in action March 2-4 at the Region IX Pod play in Lamar, Colorado, when they face all Region IX teams.

WNCC will then have their first home games of the season on March 11-12 when Lamar Community College comest to Volunteer Field.

This year’s team has a good nucleus of players with 13 of the 14 that saw junior college action a year ago. Sophomore Avery Fox, a sophomore from Scottsbluff, will be in her first year at WNCC after transferring from Northeastern Junior College.

The other 10 sophomores include the twins from Commerce City, Colorado, in DesaRae and DemiRae Woolsey, Arianah Plorin from Casper, Wyoming, Morgan Dustin of Springville, Utah, Maddie Johnston of Scottsbluff, Sianna Lewis and Erin Hurst of Las Vegas, Nevada, Caley Leslie of Prince George, British Colum- bia, Victoria Wharton of Parker, Colorado, and Bree Hanson of Fielding, New Zealand.

Hanson is also a third-year player along with Cronquist because of the COVID pandemic.

Plus, with just 14 players, everyone will be counted on to play and Cronquist said this team has high expectations under first-year coach Courtney Medina.

“We have a very strong offense and defense,” Cronquist said. “I think we will go very far this year. We have such a good team dynamic.”

Medina who begins her first year as a head coach brings a strong winning attitude to the program. Medina won three Region IX titles with the Cougars during her playing and coaching days. When Medina was a player in 2015 and 2016, the team won two Region IX titles. As an assistant coach for the Cougars in 2019, WNCC also won regionals.

Medina said she is excited with what this team brings to the table.

“We are talented but what is special about this group is their work ethic and their grit to get a job done and done well,” Medina said. “We have a tremendous amount of depth in just about every position. We have a very versatile pitching staff and all 3 of them work well with all 3 of our catchers so its nice to know that we have a team full of athletes that will play anywhere in order to do a job for their teammates. They are very selfless in that respect”

Medina added that the thing she likes about this team is a different person steps up each day, which showcases that talent on this year’s team.

“I think the best thing about this squad is that there is an opportunity to have a new hero every day, and each of them have different things that make them great and make us go, so it really just depends on the day, which I think is the best way to be,” Medina said. “I’d rather have a group of 14 that all have the opportunity to be the game changer than a large group with only a few key players.

With the depth and talent on the team, the Cougars will have three pitchers that will see the majority of the work in