A year ago, West Central left the field in heartbreak after a devastating loss to Tea Area in the ‘A’ state championship game.
The Trojans came into this season with extra motivation to get it done. They entered the state tournament as the No. 1 seed.
After beating Vermillion in the quarterfinals and sneaking past Dell Rapids in the semi’s, West Central once again found themselves in the state championship game – only this time against Tri-Valley.
“We knew that we had a battle all season long. We worked hard in the off season,” said West Central head coach Heather Harden. “The girls are outstanding athletes. They have so much passion for softball, pitching, hitting. They're never satisfied. One more rep, coach, you know, a little extra afterwards and that's really where championships are won.”
In the state title game, West Central went on to beat Tri-Valley 11-1. Elisabeth Miller pitched struck out eight batters, walked five, and gave up only three hits in the winning effort. It was a much-needed performance as Tri-Valley had trailed in their first two games of the tournament but had big innings late to lift them to victory. In Saturday’s championship game, the Mustangs had the bases loaded in both the fifth and sixth innings, but Miller’s pitching got the Trojans out of both jams.
“We put our girls through pressure situations the last couple weeks, working on these high pressure, can't let a run score,” explained coach Harden. “We've got to dig in and kudos to [Miller] on the mound. She just worked hard. She hit her spots. She took the pitch calls that we went with, and she didn't bat an eye, and she just kept spinning and spinning and working hard – and awesome defense behind her.”
Maddy Kunzweiler led the Trojans with three RBI’s during the contest as well. West Central led 6-1 going into the sixth inning, but a big five-run inning sealed the victory for the Trojans.
This is West Central’s second state sanctioned softball championship. The school claims 15 in school history by counting their days as a club organization.
