The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team have been outside a lot last week in preparation for this weekend’s season opener when the Cougars head to New Mexico to face New Mexico Military Institute in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
                WNCC head coach Mike Jones, who begins his 24th year as head coach, said the team is excited to be beginning the season this weekend down in New Mexico.
                “We are going to be able to make the trip and it will be organized and we will be ready to play,” he said. “Will we be at our best and at 100 percent; probably not. But we will be ready to play.”
                New Mexico Military Institute opened the season this past weekend against another Region IX opponent, Northeastern Junior College, and went 3-1. New Mexico Military won 15-2, 12-6 and 6-5 before falling in the series final game 16-3 on Sunday.
                Jones said NMMI is a team that will be well-coached and have strong pitching.
                “What I know is they are well organized and they always have a very strong offense,” he said. “Pitching-wise, it is a lot of three-pitch mix guys. They will have a combination of  velocity guys and some other guys with secondary pitches that will come at us. So, we will get a variation of a lot of different things.”
                This year’s team will be different from last year’s team that went 30-30 with plenty of sophomores on the team with experience. This year’s team will be young in experience.
“Experience,” Jones said about this year and last year. “When you look at all the experience we had returning last year and then you look at this year with last year’s freshmen that will be out there this year, we will definitely lack a lot of college experience. We are talented and we play with a lot of energy and competitive attitude which is good. We are just really young right now.”
                Jones said the pitching should be a bright spot with plenty of arms that saw action last year or two years ago. Leading the way is Clayden Brandon, who played two years ago before red-shirting a year ago because of an injury. Brandon, from West Herriman, Utah, had 11 appearances on the mound in 2023 with 27 strike outs while going 3-3 on the hill.
                Also to keep a watch out are returners Rocco Harmon from Ft. Collins, Colorado Julian Garza from Aurora, Colorado, and Zane Hendrickx from Antwerp, Belgium.
                “Clayton Brandon on the mound will be extremely important for us along with Rocco Hammon. Those two guys will be big for us on the mound, and I think they had a really good fall,” Jones said. “Julien Garza and Zane Hendrickx are other returners who will have a chance to get a lot of innings on the mound. Pitching-wise we have some experience and those four guys we will be counted on.”
                Offensively will feature guys that hasn’t seen a lot of at bats a year ago. The two that saw plenty of at bats a year ago are Kensei Oikawa of Miyagi, Japan, and Calab Caciari of Evans, Colorado. Those two will be counted on this year.
                As for newcomers, there are plenty of guys to watch. Jones said the Wilson brothers from Riverton, Utah, will be key on the infield.
                “Both of the Wilson brothers, Cooper Wilson and Vaughn Wilson, are guys to be paying attention too,” Jones said. “Jin Kobayakawa will be a catcher and Jase Satterfield will be a catcher and play a lot for us. The outfield will be a whole mix of guys. Austin Cooper has a chance to see a lot of innings for us.”
                The catchers Jin Kobayakawa of Kanagawa, Japan, and Jase Satterfield of Grand Junction, Colorado, will be young in talent. Kobayakawa was here in the summer playing for the Western Nebraska Pioneers, while Satterfield red-shirted a year ago. Austin Cooper is an outfielder from Bozeman, Montana, who should anchor the outfield.
                Another player that transferred to WNCC after playing in the summer for the Pioneers is Cooper Burgess of Spring Ranch, Texas.
                The Cougars have several players that played a year ago or red-shirted for the Cougars. The other returners besides the ones already mentioned include Landon Lockwood of Great Falls, Montana; Tucker Deal of Arvada, Colorado; Cameryn Spence of Douglas, Wyoming; Matt Levesque of Gatineau, Quebec; Catcher Gladysh of Brighton, Colorado; Cameron Meyer of Scottsbluff; and Kyler Adams of Erie, Colorado.
                Also a sophomore transfer is Alex Renfrow of Houston, Texas.
                The Wilson brothers are from Riverton and Vaughn is a sophomore transfer while his brother, Cooper, will be a freshman.
                The freshman on the team starts with Scottsbluff’s Carter Reisig, who was
                The other freshmen on the team includes Ian Grafmank of Las Vegas, Nevada; Jack McCrea of Berthoud, Colorado Marshall Forsyth of Houston, Texas Will Harbison of Parker, Colorado Austin Neeley of Severance, Colorado; Allard Helms of Utrecht, The Netherlands; Ren Soto of Japan, and Garrison Burns of Kearney.
                Jones said where their isn’t a lot of playing experience from last year’s team, this team will be deep in depth with players that can play any place.
                “We should be fairly deep on defense,” he said. “but we lack some experience offensively.”
                After this weekend’s season opening games in New Mexico, the Cougars will be on the road February 15-16 when they travel to Barton Community College. They will then begin 11 straight days at home from February 19 through March 6. The first home game is slated for February 19 when they host Northeastern Junior College followed by games with Miles Community College, Dawson Community College, and Northeast Community College.
                Jones said if the weather holds out, it will be nice to play at home with all the improvements that have been made to Cleveland Field. One improvement is a new outfield fence with the hold wooden fence being retired.
                “We will see how the weather works out,” Jones said. “If the weather works out it will be nice to get those games in at home early in the season. We have a beautiful facility. The upgrades to Cleveland field have been outstanding and I can’t thank the City of Scottsbluff because it has been super impressive to see the upgrades to Cleveland Field.”
 
WNCC softball team opens this weekend in Texas
 
               The goal for the Western Nebraska Community College softball team is to win a Region IX title and it is a goal that has realistic potential with the talent level of this year’s team.
                The Cougars will begin that goal of a regional title when they open this weekend at Ranger College and Cisco Community Colleges in Texas. WNCC head coach Courtney Medina, who is in her third year at the college, believes this team has the potential to do good things.
                “The goal is simple; get better every day and have a lot of grit and compete. We don't want to get too wrapped up into anything else,” Medina said. “Everyone wants to win a Region IX title; our goal is to focus on the path to get there. It’s about the journey, not the destination.”
                So, when the Cougars open this weekend with games at Ranger College in Ranger, Texas, on Friday followed a doubleheader dip with Cisco Community College on Saturday, Medina said the team is ready to get going.
                “The team is very excited to get going,” she said. “The focus for the weekend is just progress every game, get better at the little things every game, focusing on getting 1 percent better every time we take the field. We know that Ranger and Cisco are two well-coached ball clubs and have been able to get some games under their belt so we're excited to go compete.”
                Ranger will have had 10 games under their belt before taking on the Cougars. Ranger is 0-8 on the year dropping a pair of contests to Trinity Valley Community College on Monday. Ranger hosts Western Texas on Wednesday in a pair of games.
                Cisco will be a team that will have played six games before the Cougars come to Cisco, Texas, on Saturday. Cisco is 0-2 after dropping contests to Tyler Junior College 18-0 and 20-0. Cisco is scheduled to face Howard College on Wednesday and then Clarendon College on Friday before hosting the Cougars on Saturday.
                Come this weekend, the WNCC softball team will begin the quest as they hope to improve upon last year’s 14-24 record. That could happen as Medina said there is a lot of talent on the roster this season with six returning sophomores from a year ago along one transfer sophomores. The Cougars also have a very talented freshmen core of players of 12 players on the squad.
                “The talent on this year’s team is great. I think what I like more is their competitive drive,” Medina said. “Talent doesn't really matter if there is no competitive drive and I think that we have a good balance of both. We are really deep in terms of positions. We can rotate a lot of infielders from the middles to the corners. Our catchers and pitchers all play other positions as well. Our outfield does a great job of being able to play any of the three positions as well.”
                The sophomores have been good leaders on and off the field and each sophomore brings something different to the table. The returning players from a year ago include 5-8 outfielder Mykah Klumpp of Valley Center, Kansas; 5-6 catcher Randi Mitchell of Greeley, Colorado; 5-4 pitcher Kayli Cooper of North Battleford, Saskatchewan; 5-3 infielder Sierra Hilgner of Divide, Colorado; 5-9 pitcher/infielder Jenika Fuentes of Sweetwater, Texas; and 5-4 outfielder Reagan Werth of Farmington, New Mexico.
                The transfer sophomore includes 5-9 outfielder JoLee Huffaker of Wellington, Colorado. Huffaker transferred to WNCC from Iowa Western Community College.
                Medina said all the sophomores will play a key roll this season and will be players to watch.
                “I think all of our sophomores have played such a great role into building the culture this year that they will all be players to watch,” she said. “Randi will be great for us in the line up and behind the plate, she is definitely one of our most vocal leaders and has been really solid for us both in the field and at the plate.
“Mykah has had the most inspiring bounce back of a story that you could ever imagine. She's a great leader for us on and off the field. We're excited to see what she does. Coop suffered a pretty gnarly wrist injury last year that impacted her pitching quite a bit and she came on really strong for us at the end of last season so we're excited for her to start from where she left off. JoLee coming in has been really great in terms of not only her softball knowledge but her ability to command and lead an outfield. She picked up on everything so quickly and it was a seamless transition. Her and Randi being able to be triple threats at the plate with their ability to bunt, hit for power and slap is going to be fun to watch.
“Sierra will be a clutch hitter for us and she's very versatile in the field, she had to take on a lot of different roles last year and now were going to be able to see her more relaxed and play to the best of her ability. Jenika is going to be fun to watch pitch and hit for us this year, she had a lot of innings last year so we're excited to see her flourish this year. Reagan has grown a ton in the outfield and we're excited to see her continue to grow their and at the plate. 
                Then, when you add the 11 talented freshmen to the list of sophomores, you will see a team with plenty of depth. Leading the list is Torrington High graduate Alyssa Albaugh. Albaugh, a 5-6 catcher and utility player, played summer traveling softball for the Cheyenne Extreme.
                The other newcomers to the squad include Ellie Soper, a 5-6 catcher/infielder/outfielder from Sterling, Colorado; Kay’Leigh Blair is a 5-4 outfielder from Morenci, Arizona’ Vivi-Anne Amparan, a 5-5 outfielder from Newark, Texas; Viktoria Sarkanyova, a 5-5 utility player from Bratislava, Slovakia; Lydia Tibbals, a 5-4 infielder from Springville, Utah; Adi Duke, a 5-5 infielder from Santaquin, Utah; 5-6 Tori Travers, a utility player from Sammanish, Washington; Stevie Firkins, a 5-11 pitcher from Montrose, Colorado; Tina Horton, a 5-6 infielder from Sydney Australia; Faythe Lafirenza, a 5-7 catcher/infielder from Kingman, Arizona; and Kallie Stocking, a 5-9 utility player from West Valley City, Utah.
                “All of our freshman are key newcomers for us,” Medina said. “This freshman class is hungry, and it's been so fun to be around. They don't care where they play or where they hit, they just want to play, and they want to compete.”
                Mediina said the freshmen all bring different things to the table.
                “Kay'Leigh and Vivi have been huge additions for us as slappers. They have bought into the process and it’s fun to see them be able to see their work pay off. Ellie, Vik and Alyssa are three that will play just about everywhere. They are middle infielders, catchers and will see time in the outfield as well. Tina and Tori are going to be all over the infield and have a competitive nature that you can't teach so it is going to be fun to just watch them go. Adi and Lydia are two of our most level-headed but highest energy athletes. They have such high softball IQ and are truthfully a coach’s dream. I can put them wherever in the lineup or on the field and know they will give it their all while being the best teammates that they can be.
Faythe and Stevie have both probably grown the most from the fall to the spring that they are almost unrecognizable from the two girls that walked on campus in August. They will both be huge role players for us. Kallie is going to be fun to watch in the circle, she is equal parts fun and competitive, she has the kindest nature outside of the field but in the circle she is a competitor, she faced really tough offensive competition this fall against good hitting teams like CCU and UNCO and held her ground so it will be fun to watch that transfer this spring.”
This weekend will be a good chance for the team to play games and see their strengths and what they need to work on. It is also a good weekend to get some games in before their next road trip to Texas Feb. 14 and 15 when they face two ranked teams in No. 13 Trinity Valley Community College and Howard College.
After that, the Cougars are set for 12 straight games at home. The team’s home-opener will be Saturday, February 22-23 when they host Fort Hays Tech Northwest (formerly Northwest Kansas Technical College). The Cougars will then host Miles Community College on February 24 and 25 followed by home games on March 1 and 2 against Dawson Community College.
Medina said playing at home the end of February through March 2 will get them ready for their Spring Break trip to Arizona before they start conference action on March 15.
“It's always the best to play at home, there is nothing like it,” she said. “We are going to be playing great competition, but the focus has to be internal and controlling what we can control. We always talk about getting 1% better every day and playing in the spring is no different, we can't dictate our level of play based on who is across from us; we just have to be better than who we were the day before.”
Medina said the team’s success is because of the community and all the families for their support in different ways.
“We want to just thank the community and families for all of their continued support,” she said. “It takes a village to be able to do what we do and we have the best village.”