The regular season is behind the Western Nebraska Community College softball team as they enter the Region IX tournament with hopes of surprising people and coming away with a regional title.

                The Cougars, who enter the tourney with the No. 6 seed, will face third-seeded McCook Community College Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in Sterling, Colorado.

                A win against McCook will pit the Cougars in the next round against the winner of the Trinidad State and Lamar Community College contest at 6 p.m. A loss Thursday morning puts the Cougars into an 8:30 p.m. contest against the loser of the Trinidad/Lamar contest.

                Other first-round contests Thursday pit No. 4 Otero College against No. 5 Luna Community College at 8 a.m. Northeastern Junior College earned the top seed and a bye will play the winner of the Otero/Luna contest at 3:30 p.m.

                The tournament championship is slated for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with the if-necessary game set for Sunday morning.

                WNCC sophomore Chloe Cronquist said this team can make some noise at regionals but they just have to play together.

                "We just need to work together as a team," she said. "Offensively, we need to pass the bat and do on, over, and in."

                The Cougars just finished a 5-game series with McCook over the weekend where they went 1-4. Their only win was an 11-4 win on Saturday after dropping an 11-4 contest. The Cougars also lost 6-5 and 6-3 in contests where the Cougars couldn't string hits together.

                Cronquist said getting big hits will be key against McCook.

                "Our first game is against McCook and we had really good defense against them, very few errors," she said. "Our biggest thing is offensive and stringing those hits together."

                Cronquist said they know what McCook is going to do, they just need to go out and execute what they need to do to be successful.

                "They are going to pitch their best pitcher, who we can hit if we just go to contact and make her pitch to us," she said. "We have shown that if we put the ball in play they make errors."

                In the 11-4 against McCook on Saturday, WNCC finished with 12 hits and scored six times in the second inning. WNCC had three extra base hits as Cronquist had a double and Sianna Lewis had two doubles. Erin Hurst finished the game with a 3-for-3 game with three RBIs.

                WNCC does have the potential to do something at the regional tournament as they have competed against all the conference opponents this season scoring over 10 runs in 10 of the games.

                WNCC has five players hitting over .350 on the season. Victoria Wharton leads the team at .408 with 51 runs scored and 64 hits. Next in line is Cronquist at .392 with three home runs and 31 RBIs. Morgan Dustin is next at .385 with four home runs, 34 RBIs, and 31 runs scored. Arianah Plorin and Sianna Lews are next at .366 and .364 respectively. Plorin leads the team with six home runs along with DemiRae Woolsey.

                The Cougars' road to a regional title won't be easy, but anything is possible since records mean very little during tournament time. The Cougars will say goodbye to 11 sophomores next year and Cronquist just wants to go out on a positive note.

                "This is my third year here and I just want to finish strong with my girls," Cronquist said.