Brookings Bobcats head softball coach Emma Hardin is more than just your typical coach. Deep down, she probably understands the current game more than most. From growing up in Brookings, playing for one of the best club teams in state history, and to being a DI pitcher, you could say she was the perfect person for the job.
Despite falling short of a state championship this year, the inaugural season of high school softball certainly had its bright spots for the Brookings Bobcats. With a regular season campaign of 13-3, being a top-3 seed in the state tournament, and finding their way to the state title game, there was a lot to be happy about for the Bobcats.
For Coach Hardin, she was proud of the way her team fought.
“I think that this team plays together incredibly well, and I had mentioned to them that every good team I’ve played on cares about each other. And I think that this team truly does care about each other, and that’s what good teams do,” Hardin said. “They get it done on the field, but they care about the person next to them. And I think that is why we finished the way we did, because this team cares about each other. They’re great softball players, but they’re also great people.”
Hardin graduated from South Dakota State University in the spring of 2022, where she was a four-year pitcher for the Jackrabbits. Prior to playing at SDSU, she played on various club teams, but most notably with the South Dakota Renegades. In fact, Hardin was a member of the Renegades 2000 team that is considered by some to be the best club softball team in state history. She was one of thirteen girls on that squad – all of which would go on to play college softball. They finished their 2016 season as runner-up in the Premiere Girls Fastpitch national tournament.
“I feel like I’ve been coached by the best coaches in the nation. I’ve been so incredibly lucky to have learned the amount of softball knowledge from the coaches that I have is incredible. I think that I wanted to get into coaching to share my love for softball, to share what I know,” Hardin explained. “And that team, the Renegades team that I was on, our goal and our mission was to change South Dakota softball because there was none really.”
When Hardin was in high school, there was club high school softball, but it wasn’t fully sanctioned like it is now. She’s already seeing short span growth with the sport.
“I think that, since [Renegades 2000], it’s only gotten better. You see these pitchers out here throwing extremely hard, spinning the ball. When [I was this age], I had to go to California, to Illinois, to Oklahoma to find great softball. And I think that these girls are just finding out that we can play great softball in South Dakota,” Hardin stated. “I think it’s really fun that now it is in South Dakota, and there is great players here as well. It’s really fun to see the game evolve and change since I’ve been playing and now coaching.”
In her first season as a coach, Hardin led the Bobcats to the ‘AA’ title game. Even though Brookings fell in the championship contest to Lincoln, 3-0, they had a chance late that almost sent the game into chaos. With one out remaining and the bases loaded for Brookings, Kymber Buys hit a line shot to left field that was directly in line to Lincoln’s Katelyn Hamm. Had that ball found the gap in the outfield, the games ending might have been very different.
“I told the girls that we’re only hungry. We are only hungry to get better and for more. And I think that we’re really lucky that we still have a great group of girls that are still going to be playing next year. We are really sad to see the senior class go, what a great start. The standard that they set for Bobcat softball is incredible, and I’m really thankful for that,” Hardin exclaimed. “But those underclassmen, they’re hungry and I think that they’re going continue to do well. I think South Dakota softball is going to continue to get better and better – the bobcats will as well.”
This is Hardin’s first head coaching job with this age group. While she has coached younger age groups before, high school is a different ‘ballgame,’ so to speak.
“I coached a group of girls from when they were 10 to about 14, so I’ve been coaching for about five years, but the first time with this age group where I am a little bit closer to their age,” she chuckled. “And so I do kind of have to differentiate between coach and friend, or coach, mentor, or player.”
Two days before the state tournament this June, Hardin received an email informing her that she had been named the 2023 ‘AA’ softball coach of the year.
“I thought it was spam for a second. I’m like ‘What? There’s no way.’ And so I’m just incredibly honored to be named coach of the year, and by my peers, other coaches,” Hardin said. “I am extremely honored. I don’t know what else to say except I can’t believe it.”
Hardin is a long-time member of the Brookings community, and her new job allows her to continue living in the town she loves.
“I love Brookings, obviously, and I chose to continue to stay in Brookings and I coach travel ball in Brookings. I had many opportunities to go continue to coach with the Renegades and as much as I loved the Renegades, I felt that I wanted my presence to be in Brookings and to make a difference in my hometown,” she explained. “I think that I just want to continue to do that, and so Brookings holds a special place in my heart. My friends always joke with me that I’m a lifer. I got a teaching job there, I bought a house there, I’m a lifer now, so I love it.”
Sioux Falls Lincoln (AA), West Central (A), and Castlewood (B) won state titles during the inaugural year of high school softball in South Dakota. With 48 teams in all for the start, and more schools interested in adding the sport soon, there is positivity on the horizon for the sport in the state.
