Seward seeks larger tourney experience
At the beginning of the high school softball season in August, Seward’s Kaitlin Wright figured she would be sitting on the bleachers at Smith Softball Complex in Hastings, just taking in the atmosphere of the Nebraska High School Softball Championships.
She never had expectations of putting on the blue and gold and standing in left field, playing for a possible state championship.
But that’s just what the senior will be doing Thursday when Classes B and C take the field for the first time.
The tournament opens today at 2 p.m. with Class A action only.
“Being a senior and having lost seven players, six of them starters, from last year’s team. … I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Wright said. “I just thought I would attend the tournament, absorb what was going on and take in state.”
Second-ranked Seward (22-3) will face No. 4 Omaha Gross in the opening round.
The Bluejays are making their second straight state tournament appearance.
“I didn’t really have any expectations of the team this year, considering how many we had graduate,” Seward coach Pat Piskorski said. “We wanted to leave it all behind and get our own identity.
“As we kept winning, things change. The team was young enough and saw what the team before did. They have been playing hard and having a desire to win. It was just game by game.
“It was a very pleasant surprise. I never thought we would have been this successful.”
Wright has been a large part of that success, batting .375 for the Bluejays. She was 2-for-3 in the district championship loss to Beatrice, scoring a run. She also tripled and added an RBI.
“Kaitlin was phenomenal last year,” Piskorski said. “She was our flex player last year and was hurt. She never batted last season, and now she’s our leadoff.”
Seward junior pitcher Brittany Telecky is hitting .351 and maintaining a 0.58 earned-run average in the circle. She is 17-3 and has pitched 13 shutouts this season.
“She was pretty darn successful as a sophomore,” Piskorski said. “She’s a quiet kid and not a big rah-rah type of person.
“But everyone on this team takes care of their job and it makes it a lot easier. It’s the internal drive they have as a team.”
Junior infielder Tatum Peery is batting .421 for the Bluejays this season.
The team has combined several personalities and abilities to create a successful team.
“We blend in perfectly together. It helps living in a small town because we get to know each other from other functions such as dance, church and 4-H,” Wright said.
“It makes it easier because we are from seven different summer clubs this year and a few of us are big summer rivals. But we know when we come together at this time, its for the school.”
With four-time champion Elkhorn not in the field this year, the chances look good for Seward.
“It’s interesting this year,” Piskorski said. “It’s wide open — a coin toss. It’s exciting to see that we don’t have that team that is going to win.
“Last year you knew it was going to be Elkhorn, and that was it. There are going to be a lot of close games down there this year.”
Class B is set to begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, with Class C starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. All finals are set for 5 p.m. Friday with if-necessary games to follow.
Class A softball capsules
Team, nickname W-L Rank Coach At state (last)
Papillion-La Vista Monarchs 31-1 1 Todd Petersen 16th (2007)
Only loss came in second of two meetings with rival Papillion-LV South.
Grand Island Islanders 17-18 NR K.C. Hehnke 3rd (2007)
Western district included no one higher than 16th in wild-card points.
Papillion-LV South Titans 24-5 5 Dan Hogan 4th (2007)
After slow start, Titans enter state on a 14-game winning streak.
Millard North Mustangs 22-8 4 John Swoboda 13th (2007)
With 38 RBIs in 30 games, Danielle Christiansen is a feared hitter.
Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawks 30-6 2 Mark Watt 3rd (2007)
Hawks followed up last year’s runner-up finish with a solid season.
Omaha Westside Warriors 19-8 10 Kevin Dunn 8th (2007)
Amy Baker leads all hitters in the tournament with seven homers.
Lincoln North Star Navigators 32-5 3 Todd LaVelle 1st
Opened with 23 straight wins before three late-season losses to Papio.
Millard West Wildcats 19-11 6 Don Brummer 8th (2004)
Edged Lincoln East for wild-card after district win vs. Millard North.
Top hitters Avg. RBIs Top pitchers W-L ERA
Williams, P-LV South .452 33 Changstrom, Southwest 21-5 0.38
Janssen, Southwest .444 24 Hovinga, Papillion-LV 19-1 0.43
Weber, North Star .443 19 Neumann, Papillion-LV 10-0 0.70
Tomlin, Grand Island .431 34 Policky, North Star 15-3 0.96
Redding, Papillion-LV .426 14 Dunn, P-LV South 20-5 0.97
Sandel, O. Westside .425 22 Coufal, North Star 11-1 1.27
Changstrom, Southwest .425 10 Novotny, Millard North 20-8 1.56
Schmidt, Southwest .422 10 Raatz, Millard West 12-8 1.58
Brown, Millard North .415 11 Matuska, O. Westside 16-5 2.09
Southworth, Papillion-LV .412 26 Trosper, Grand Island 10-10 2.80
Christiansen, Mill. North .411 38
Mathewson, P-LV South .409 9
Baker, O. Westside .405 25
Greckel, Millard West .402 23
Neumann, Papillion-LV .402 23
Harpst, North Star .400 23
Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com.
She never had expectations of putting on the blue and gold and standing in left field, playing for a possible state championship.
But that’s just what the senior will be doing Thursday when Classes B and C take the field for the first time.
The tournament opens today at 2 p.m. with Class A action only.
“Being a senior and having lost seven players, six of them starters, from last year’s team. … I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Wright said. “I just thought I would attend the tournament, absorb what was going on and take in state.”
Second-ranked Seward (22-3) will face No. 4 Omaha Gross in the opening round.
The Bluejays are making their second straight state tournament appearance.
“I didn’t really have any expectations of the team this year, considering how many we had graduate,” Seward coach Pat Piskorski said. “We wanted to leave it all behind and get our own identity.
“As we kept winning, things change. The team was young enough and saw what the team before did. They have been playing hard and having a desire to win. It was just game by game.
“It was a very pleasant surprise. I never thought we would have been this successful.”
Wright has been a large part of that success, batting .375 for the Bluejays. She was 2-for-3 in the district championship loss to Beatrice, scoring a run. She also tripled and added an RBI.
“Kaitlin was phenomenal last year,” Piskorski said. “She was our flex player last year and was hurt. She never batted last season, and now she’s our leadoff.”
Seward junior pitcher Brittany Telecky is hitting .351 and maintaining a 0.58 earned-run average in the circle. She is 17-3 and has pitched 13 shutouts this season.
“She was pretty darn successful as a sophomore,” Piskorski said. “She’s a quiet kid and not a big rah-rah type of person.
“But everyone on this team takes care of their job and it makes it a lot easier. It’s the internal drive they have as a team.”
Junior infielder Tatum Peery is batting .421 for the Bluejays this season.
The team has combined several personalities and abilities to create a successful team.
“We blend in perfectly together. It helps living in a small town because we get to know each other from other functions such as dance, church and 4-H,” Wright said.
“It makes it easier because we are from seven different summer clubs this year and a few of us are big summer rivals. But we know when we come together at this time, its for the school.”
With four-time champion Elkhorn not in the field this year, the chances look good for Seward.
“It’s interesting this year,” Piskorski said. “It’s wide open — a coin toss. It’s exciting to see that we don’t have that team that is going to win.
“Last year you knew it was going to be Elkhorn, and that was it. There are going to be a lot of close games down there this year.”
Class B is set to begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, with Class C starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. All finals are set for 5 p.m. Friday with if-necessary games to follow.
Class A softball capsules
Team, nickname W-L Rank Coach At state (last)
Papillion-La Vista Monarchs 31-1 1 Todd Petersen 16th (2007)
Only loss came in second of two meetings with rival Papillion-LV South.
Grand Island Islanders 17-18 NR K.C. Hehnke 3rd (2007)
Western district included no one higher than 16th in wild-card points.
Papillion-LV South Titans 24-5 5 Dan Hogan 4th (2007)
After slow start, Titans enter state on a 14-game winning streak.
Millard North Mustangs 22-8 4 John Swoboda 13th (2007)
With 38 RBIs in 30 games, Danielle Christiansen is a feared hitter.
Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawks 30-6 2 Mark Watt 3rd (2007)
Hawks followed up last year’s runner-up finish with a solid season.
Omaha Westside Warriors 19-8 10 Kevin Dunn 8th (2007)
Amy Baker leads all hitters in the tournament with seven homers.
Lincoln North Star Navigators 32-5 3 Todd LaVelle 1st
Opened with 23 straight wins before three late-season losses to Papio.
Millard West Wildcats 19-11 6 Don Brummer 8th (2004)
Edged Lincoln East for wild-card after district win vs. Millard North.
Top hitters Avg. RBIs Top pitchers W-L ERA
Williams, P-LV South .452 33 Changstrom, Southwest 21-5 0.38
Janssen, Southwest .444 24 Hovinga, Papillion-LV 19-1 0.43
Weber, North Star .443 19 Neumann, Papillion-LV 10-0 0.70
Tomlin, Grand Island .431 34 Policky, North Star 15-3 0.96
Redding, Papillion-LV .426 14 Dunn, P-LV South 20-5 0.97
Sandel, O. Westside .425 22 Coufal, North Star 11-1 1.27
Changstrom, Southwest .425 10 Novotny, Millard North 20-8 1.56
Schmidt, Southwest .422 10 Raatz, Millard West 12-8 1.58
Brown, Millard North .415 11 Matuska, O. Westside 16-5 2.09
Southworth, Papillion-LV .412 26 Trosper, Grand Island 10-10 2.80
Christiansen, Mill. North .411 38
Mathewson, P-LV South .409 9
Baker, O. Westside .405 25
Greckel, Millard West .402 23
Neumann, Papillion-LV .402 23
Harpst, North Star .400 23
Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com.
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