Northwest's season ends in Hastings

HASTINGS – The four Northwest seniors gathered in the middle of the team huddle with tears in their eyes. Teammates surrounded them with tears streaking down their faces.

Coach Mitch Sadd and the girls raised their fists together. The huddle broke on the count of "one, two, three, VIKES." What ensued after were hugs and some raw smiles as the Northwest softball season was cut short.

"We were just talking about it in the huddle, I couldn't be more proud of our girls," Sadd said. "We had a lot of accomplishments this year. We won every tournament we were in, we had a great season, it just didn't finish the way we wanted to. We came in a little flat yesterday and got a little down, but they picked themselves back up this morning."

Northwest lost to Lincoln Pius X on Wednesday and moved in to the losers bracket and was back at the Bill Smith Softball Complex for a 9 a.m. first pitch on Thursday. It came ready to play and beat Scottsbluff in the first game 12-4 in six innings. Like she did in a district final, Libby Loman hit a home run to end the game.

Next up was Blair which didn't forget losing to Northwest in the Class B state championship a year ago and won 6-3. Brooke Janning was in the circle and brought a fiery energy to the game. She had 16 strikeouts in the game and gave up only four hits.

"We just didn't jump on her like we did last year when she came in the second half of that game and just took it at us," Sadd said.

It was a season that Northwest players and fans can look back at fondly, but also with the thought of what could've been. Northwest was the No. 1 ranked team in Class B (Omaha World-Herald) from the opening game of the season until the very end and had the most wildcard points of any team in the class. There was a two in the loss column, preceded by 29 wins before Northwest got to Hastings.

At the state tournament Northwest sat atop the bracket and was poised to make a run for a third straight state championship. That was the goal going into the season until it recorded its very last out. It was still the goal after losing on Wednesday and planned to run the table like the Vikings did a season ago.

"We did it last year, we lost that first game and came right back through. But like I was telling the girls, there was a little bit better competition, things just didn't go our way," Sadd said.

Loman got the start for Northwest against Blair after Graclyn Simmons pitched the entire game against Scottsbluff. Blair jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning and then Simmons came on in the third inning.

Through two and a half innings Blair led 4-0. But then Jolie O'Hara stepped to the plate and gave one a ride to center field to cut Blair's lead in half. O'Hara also singled in the sixth inning and finished the day with two hits.

"When Jolie got healthy she started hitting very well again and she's been having back problems for quite a while but she's been hitting the ball so well all year long," Sadd said.

The four seniors, Kyra Ray, Reyse Zobel, Ava Smith and Liliana Martinez helped bring Northwest's program to new heights. Martinez joined the squad her junior year while Ray, Zobel and Smith had been Vikings since their freshman year.

That trio finished their high school career with over 100 wins, four state appearances and two championship rings. Zobel had her hand in rewriting the history book and finished her career with 44 home runs, the most in school history.

"They've been huge in this program," Sadd said. "They've been building all through this, winning two state championships, five years of state."

Northwest dominated teams all season with its bats, but was held to three runs against Blair. It was the third time of the season that the Vikings scored three or less runs.

Innings four through six were quiet as the game turned into a pitcher's duel. Simmons nor Janning gave up an inch.

"Gracie was throwing, we had to keep them off balance and that's why I changed. Gracie's changeup is really good, Libby was struggling with it a little bit," Sadd said. "That's why we changed it up because you gotta keep them off balance when they're hitting that hard."

But then in the seventh inning Blair gave itself some insurance runs, first with a squeeze play and then on a sac fly to take a 6-2 lead.

All of a sudden Northwest was down to its last three outs of a season that started in 90-degree heat and ended on a colder, windy day.

"I knew that the squeeze play was coming and I told my pitcher to make sure we get it really high (the pitch) and she didn't get up as high as I wanted it to because I knew it was coming," Sadd said. "Anytime you can get some insurance runs are huge."

Northwest gave one last effort to get back into the game as Loman started the bottom of the seventh inning with a solo, no-doubt home run to center field. Smith got a hit in her last high school at bat, but Janning was too much for Northwest and struck out the side.

Through it all there were smiles and laughs. To the outside eye the girls in black and gold always appeared to be having fun, smiling and laughing, game in and game out.

That didn't end after the loss as many fought to put a smile on their faces and let out a chuckle while a stray tear or two drooped down their cheeks.

"They've always had a lot of fun. They played a lot of ball together," Sadd said. "Most of them played throughout the summer together, they have the camaraderie."

Northwest 12, Scottsbluff 4

SB;101;200-4;7;3

NW;320;304-12;13;1

WP-Simmons. LP-Schneider. HR-SB: Schneider, Henry. HR-NW: Loman. 2B-NW: O'Hara, Ray, Zobel.

Blair 6, Northwest 3

BL;211;000;2-6;13;0

NW;002;000;1-3;4;0

WP-Janning. LP-Loman. HR-BL: Macholan. HR-NW: O'Hara, Loman. 2B-BL: Schueth, Brown.