The Western Nebraska Community College softball team will be beginning the season this weekend when they head to Texas for a 6-game series in sunny warm conditions.

                The Cougars also have plenty of returning talent from a year ago as they aim to capture a Region IX title in May.

                Chloe Cronquist, a third-year player from Idaho, is excited to get the season started under first-year head coach Courtney Medina.

                "We are excited to finally get to show off all our talents and how hard we have worked," the sophomore from Blackfoot, Idaho, said. "We have good team chemistry and everyone is important to watch. We have a very strong offense and defense. I think we will go very far this year. We have such a good team dynamic."

                Medina is now stranger to WNCC softball as this is her third trip to WNCC. She played for the Cougars in 2015 and 2016, winning two Region IX titles, and then was an assistant coach for the Cougars in 2019, also winning a regional title.

                Medina is excited to get the season started.

                "We are talented but what is special about this group is their work ethic and their grit to get a job done and done well," Medina said. "We have a tremendous amount of depth in just about every position. We have a very versatile pitching staff and all three of them work well with all three of our catchers so it's nice to know that we have a team full of athletes that will play anywhere in order to do a job for their teammates. They are very selfless in that respect."

                Medina added that the thing she likes about this team is a different person steps up each day, which showcases that talent on this year's team.

                "I think the best thing about this squad is that there is an opportunity to have a new hero every day, and each of them have different things that make them great and make us go, so it really just depends on the day, which I think is the best way to be," Medina said. "I'd rather have a group of 14 that all have the opportunity to be the game changer than a large group with only a few key players.

                The Cougars will open the season in sunny Texas February 17-19. The Cougars open the season on Friday when they face Temple College and Cisco College followed by games against Coastal Bend College and Western Oklahoma State College on Saturday. The Cougars will finish out the road trip with a double-header at Odessa College on Sunday.

                After the opening weekend, the Cougars will next be in action March 2-4 at the Region IX Pod play in Lamar, Colorado, when they face all Region IX teams.

                WNCC will then have their first home games of the season on March 11-12 when Lamar Community College comes to Volunteer Field.

                The Cougars have an experienced squad with 12 of the players returning from a year ago. The only newcomers are a freshman in Devyin Priselac of Ft. Collins, Colorado. The other newcomer is a transfer from Northeastern Junior College as Avery Fox, a Scottsbluff High graduate, returns back to the area.

                The other 12 sophomores on the team, including Fox, include the twins from Commerce City, Colorado, in DesaRae and DemiRae Woolsey, Arianah Plorin from Casper, Wyoming, Morgan Dustin of Springville, Utah, Maddie Johnston of Scottsbluff, Sianna Lewis and Erin Hurst of Las Vegas, Nevada, Caley Leslie of Prince George, British Columbia, Victoria Wharton of Parker, Colorado, and Bree Hanson of Fielding, New Zealand.

                Baylie Krueger of Swink, Colorado, is also a sophomore academically, but red-shirted a year ago.

                Hanson is also a third-year player along with Cronquist because of the COVID pandemic.

                The Cougars show a lot of depth at all the positions this season. The pitching staff should be strong with three veteran throwers in DesaRae Woolsey, Fox, and Leslie.

                Medina loves what the pitchers along with the other players are bringing to the team.

                "We have DesaRae Woolsey, Caley Leslie and Avery Fox and they all bring very different talents to the circle but complement each other very well," Medina said. "I don't think any of them are very similar and they all throw a different amount of pitches. They communicate really well and our catchers do a great job of calling for them and filling them with that confidence that is essential in the circle. They are a fun group to work with."

                The catchers on the team will be DemiRae Woolsey, Dustin, and Lewis.

                The hardest thing the softball team had to deal with is the weather. The team hasn't been able to practice on actual dirt and grass, but they have been finding ways to get practice time in. They are expected to practice outside when they get to Texas when they will see 60, 70, and 80 degree weather.

                "We haven't been able to get outside at all this semester, we will do defensive drill work in the spaces that are available to us but nothing can simulate dirt and grass and getting to take live reps," Medina said. "I will say that we have done a great job as a team of not allowing that to be an excuse or something to tamper with our confidence. We talk about controlling the controllables and doing the best with what we have to get 1% better than the day before, no matter the circumstances."

                Cronquist said that this team has a goal in mind and that is to capture a Region IX title.

                "We want to win Region IX," she said. "To do that we need to keep working hard as a team and keep getting better every day."

                Medina added it is vital that they work together as a unit to get the job done.

                "The biggest key for us is to just work together as a cohesive unit and have everyone own their role and knowing that role is going to change game to game," she said. "This group has a really good bond when it comes to how they interact on and off the field. We have good team chemistry and I think if we keep that at the forefront of what we are doing that can help make us very successful."

                WNCC will face several ranked teams throughout the year including the opening weekend when they battle with Odessa, who is pre-season ranked third in the country after a 45-3 regular season a year ago.

                Over spring break, the Cougars will also face pre-season ranked San Jacincto, who is No. 20.

                Cronquist said they will enter the games focusing on themselves and they are not going to underestimate any team.

                "We never underestimate the other teams," she said. "We know how good we are and we just want to play our best."

                And, to win a regional title, it is going to take communication.

                "We need to communicate and work through the hard situations," Cronquist said.

                For Medina, she is proud of how this team has prepared for the coming season.

                "This group has grinded since the day that they stepped on campus in the fall and we have worked hard physically at the game of softball but also on the mental side of the game, in the class room, at 6 a.m. conditioning and in the weight room, so I'm very excited to see what they can do this spring," she said. "We have a great support system in our community, in our instructors that understand the struggles of being an outside sport in spring and helping to accommodate the girls with class work while on the road, our dorm families and everything in between. We are very lucky to have the support that we have, when the snow melts, we cannot wait to see everyone at the Vol."