WAHOO – In what can only be described as a pitching and defensive masterpiece, the Class B No. 4 Wahoo softball team qualified for state for the first time since 2015 with 8-0 and 9-0 victories over Gering in the B-4 District Final on Oct. 9 at Hackberry Park.
“Both our pitchers pitched really well today,” Wahoo Coach Katrina Christen said. “They moved the ball around and were able to keep Gering off balance in the batter box. When Gering did put the ball in play our defense was ready and made every play. We’re lucky to be able to throw two pitchers that do such a good job. They are different enough that teams have trouble adjusting when we can pitch them back-to-back like that.”
The Warriors were able to put the Bulldogs in a tough position in the first game of the district final by jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
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Singles by Sidney Smart, Katelyn Urban and Jaiden Swanson loaded the bases with one out. A walk and an error at shortstop drove in three of the runs and then a single by Abbey Borchers scored the fourth one.
Gering settled in after that and shutout Wahoo during the next four innings.
In the fifth and sixth innings, the Warriors found a way to tack on two runs to run-rule the Bulldogs. A single by Harper Hancock and a sacrifice bunt by Borchers drove in the runs in the fifth, and a double by Urban in the sixth ended the game.
Throwing an amazing game on the mound was Autumn Iversen, who pitched all six innings, gave up two hits and had nine strikeouts. Coming up with two RBI was Borchers, Hancock and Urban.
With just a single win separating Wahoo from the state tournament, they went back to the same philosophy that helped them in the first game, which was score first.
That first run came from the leadoff batter Iversen in the top of the first, when she homered over the centerfield wall.
They continued to rough up Gering’s pitching in the second with four more runs. They were scored on an error, a single by Smart and a single by Jaiden Swanson.
After being kept off the board in the third and fourth, the Warriors went to work closing the game out in the fifth with four runs. The first two batters for Wahoo were walked and then Wotipka singled, Borchers hit a sacrifice fly and Iversen hit a ground ball in the infield to drive in the runs.
Swanson pitched all five innings in the victory, gave up one hit and struck out nine batters. Finishing with two RBI was Iversen and Smart, while Swanson, Wotipka, and Borchers drove in one run.
“The girls did a nice job staying disciplined at the plate,” Christen said. “It was great to see batters 1-9 do their job for us. I feel like that has been a strength for us all season, you never know who is going to come up with a big hit. That’s what makes this team so fun.”
In the B-5 Subdistrict Tournament on Oct. 4, the Warriors earned two wins against NEN and Beatrice. They defeated the Vipers 6-1 and then knocked off Class B No. 6 Beatrice 7-4.
Against NEN, it was scoreless through the first two innings, when the Warriors were able to tack on three in the third. They came off a three-run home run hit by Iversen to right field.
After giving up a run in the top of the fifth, Wahoo went deep for the second time in the game in the bottom half of the inning. This time it was Smart launching a three-run shot to center that put the Warriors in command by five.
Pitching seven innings during the game was Iversen while giving up one earned run and recording 15 strikeouts. Driving in three runs was Smart and Iversen.
Similar to the game against the Vipers, the game between the Orangemen was scoreless through three innings.
It was Beatrice who finally broke through with one run in the top of the fourth. It was driven in on an error made by Wahoo in the field.
The first batter, Iversen, in the bottom half of the inning wasted no time tying the game up with a solo shot to left field. Later on, in the inning with the bases loaded, Kylee Kenning doubled to left scoring two and then a single by Borchers and a groundout by Wotipka to short scored one run apiece to make it 5-1 Wahoo.
In the bottom of the sixth, Smart hit her second home run of the day. This time it was a two-run homer to center that extended the Warriors lead to six.
Iversen pitched seven innings, gave up no earned runs, and had three strikeouts for the Warriors. Driving in two runs apiece were Kenning and Smart, while Iversen, Wotipka, and Borchers all had one RBI.
Wahoo earned the third seed in this year’s Class B State Softball Tournament. They played their opening round game against the six seed Scottsbluff on Oct. 13 in the double elimination tournament.
Alex Eller is a reporter for the Wahoo Newspaper. Reach her via email at alex.eller@wahoonewspaper.com.