The 2024 White Pine High School softball season is in full swing, already approaching its final stretch of the season.
Through 21 games, the Ladycats are 11-9-1, including 7-3 in league play.
White Pine assistant coach Bailey Moore said the tough competition early has helped this team have success later in the season.
“I think we put ourselves in a really good position early in the season to play a lot of really talented teams out of state,” said Moore, who is a White Pine High School alum. “We went to multiple tournaments in Utah where we were playing 4A, 5A, 6A schools and they are learning a lot about who we are as a team, where we need to grow, where we need to improve, those kinds of things.”
In addition to playing an early season non-conference tournament in Utah, White Pine also traveled down to Mesquite to play in the Mesquite Softball Tournament hosted by Virgin Valley. The Ladycats went 2-1-1 as they got to see league foe Lincoln County for the first time this season in a non-conference matchup.
That tournament also saw the opportunity to play 3A schools in Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley where White Pine lost by two, 12-10 to Moapa and tied, 9-9 to Virgin Valley.
Moore said playing competition in higher division increases the fight in the girls to perform to the best of their abilities.
“Purposely scheduling games that we know will be tough and playing these are very skilled, very talented I think. It gives these girls an opportunity to rise to the level of competition instead of playing teams that are less skilled or less experienced, and having a lot of early success with that,” Moore said. “I would take early season losses against teams to make us better than walking through a tournament where we didn’t really learn anything, we weren’t really tested, and we weren’t really competitive with anyone.”
The Virgin Valley Tournament wrapped up non-conference play as the first 11 games prepared them, heading into 2A South action.
When 2A South action began on March 28 against Green Valley Christian, it started a stretch of winning six of their first seven conference games, including shutting out Green Valley Christian 18-0 and 20-0 in the single-day, two-game series.
The lone loss during that seven-game stretch was a nail-biting 7-6 loss at Lincoln County on April 2, after White Pine’s seventh-inning rally fell just short despite jumping out to a 3-0 first inning lead before junior Gianna Sedlacek even threw a pitch.
However, the Ladycats had to quickly turn the page, despite the loss for the second game of the two-game series against Lincoln County. Sedlacek and her teammates would deliver as she was one of two players to go 4-for-5 at the plate, along with senior Callie Hollingworth, who hit two home runs in a 14-11 shootout victory.
The Ladycats continued to roll, recording two, two-game sweeps at Laughlin and at home against Awaken Christian.
Across those four games, White Pine outscored Laughlin and Awaken Christian 53-4, including a 16-1 onslaught against the Lions in the second game of the doubleheader that saw a seven-run third inning break the game open as sophomore Kasadie Britton cruised through four innings of work inside the circle, despite a little bit of traffic in the fourth inning.
Then, it came time to face the top of the league in Needles on April 19. Despite jumping out a 7-0 lead midway through the fourth, the Ladycats were ready to respond and claw back. White Pine plated two in their half of the fourth, another in the sixth. However, the seventh-inning rally fell a bit short, scoring twice in the final frame to lose 8-5.
Moore said going 7-3 in conference play entering play on April 23 has suited the team well.
“We did get a good start (in league play) and momentum is always a positive thing,” Moore said. “When you can build positive momentum in the win column, that’s going to help you. Even against Needles, we were competitive with them for longer than we have been in the past.”
Now with six games remaining, including the final two league games of the season on May 3 at Lake Mead Academy, White Pine is currently in second place and has a one-game lead on Lincoln County with a couple of weeks remaining.
White Pine still has the mentality of finishing on top, not in league play, not in divisions, but in the state tournament.
“We want to build as much positive momentum as we can going into the postseason,” Moore said. “It is all about being at the right time and playing your best softball at the end of the season, so building on everything we’ve learned from the past two or three months.
“We’re really excited for the postseason, and we’ve got a really good opportunity to do something really special with this group. The goal is to win the state championship and I think it’s within reach for the girls.”
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