Hastings Tigers softball girls had a strong season behind them going into state. The girls were seated fourth going into state behind top rank York, Beatrice, and Elkhorn South. Although Hastings did finish fourth the rest of the bracket had very different results. Beatrice being second seed got beat out within their first two games.
Junior Markki Frazier said the team went in nervous but with high hopes.
“We knew we could beat any of those teams, just we need to always have high energy.” Frazier said.
One downside according to Frazier was the loss of sophomore pitcher Olivia Douglas’ energy. Olivia Douglas was injured and had to be taken out the first game, taking away the momentum the girls had.
In the first game Hastings played Northwest. They upset the Tigers 5-15, Frazier said that the large crowd made this a very different experience and but Douglas’ injury lowered the energy. The Tigers bounced back that afternoon with a 3-2 win over Wahoo.
“In the Wahoo game we did not play like we normally do, the previous lost killed our energy. But we turned it around in the third game,” Frazier said. They won 8-0 vs. North Platte, this was a great victory, and in their last game they had to play Gretna. They never played Gretna in the regular season so they had little clue of them in the game. Gretna ended up winning 8-5.
“We could have played better and we could have beat any of those teams just was not our week,” Frazier said.
Now that the season is over they have to look forward and prepare for next year. “We play good batting and out in the field, just consistency is what we need to focus on,” Frazier said.
The girls finished the tournament in the fourth place, which is a great result. Gretna placed first, following by Elkhorn South and York.
Photo given by permission of Paul Julian’s
