Sports

Sioux start softball team, season underway

By Tyler Ohmann

05/08/2012

Many of the female athletes at Westhope and Newburg United High School’s did not want to be in track anymore, so they decided to begin their own sport—fast-pitch softball.

“It was just something different, we’ve always had track, but nobody liked track really,” said junior Bailey Tofteland, one of the team’s pitchers.

The girls approached athletic director Layne Fluhrer early in the year about adding another sport.

“The first day of school the girls game to us and asked if we could have fast-pitch softball, and we kind of laughed at them right away,” said asst. softball coach and Westhope Athletic Director Layne Fluhrer. “But we said, ‘well, you’ll need girls,’ and within an hour they had 17 girls that will play.”

“We proposed it to the school board and they were all for it, and here we are,” Fluhrer said.

With the warm spring weather the area has enjoyed, the Westhope-Newburg Sioux softball team has taken to the field like fish to water, though the swim has produced some laughs along the way.

“We come off like the bench warmers once and a while, but we’re learning,” said junior Hadlee Schell. “We’ve had lots of funny moments, but we’ve improved a lot since the beginning.”

Fluhrer said that he and head coach Melanie Hagen have both noticed that the girls have developed throughout this season.

“They’ve come a long way in their skills, a lot of these girls haven’t played softball, tee ball or anything,” Fluhrer said.

“They have been learning the bases, and we’ve been surprised how well they can hit the ball already.”

Schell said the hitting could stem from some of them playing tee ball and little league when they were young.

“It looked fun,” Schell said. “Some of us played baseball when we were younger, and it’s something that girls can do.”

“We definitely had some giggle moments though,” Schell said with a chuckle.

Pitching has been the toughest thing for the girls to learn with Tofteland noting that finding a consistent release point is what she is trying to work on.

“Pitching is the most difficult part, other than that we’ve played with every team,” Fluhrer said. “We can hit and we can field, it’s just that pitching, that is toughest.”

The Sioux have noticed that one thing they do is definitely unique.

“We’re learning together, but we learned that we have the funniest batting stances of any other team we play,” Tofteland said.

The Sioux play in the north region of Class B, which was newly formed this year. They play against teams like Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood-Kenmare and Des Lacs-Burlington as well as Grafton, Thompson, Dakota Praire and Pembina County North.

Some of those teams have reached out during their contests against the Sioux to help with some advice.

“A lot of teams have helped us actually, they’ll stop sometimes and tell us stuff, because they know we’re new,” Schell said. “They’ll sometimes tell us ‘hey you this,’ instead of something else (that we’re doing wrong).”

Opposing coaches too have thrown a few words the Sioux players’ way.

“The other coaches have helped a lot, and given us compliments,” Tofteland said. “They know it’s our first year.”

The Sioux have lost all five games this season, but have scored an average of more than seven runs per game according to the North Dakota High School Association’s website.

The Sioux played their final home game yesterday afternoon against DLB. They will travel to Grafton to play each of their other North Region opponents on Friday and Saturday of this week. The region playoffs begin the following week. Class B state is scheduled to be May 31-June 2, in West Fargo.

Fluhrer said that there is one thing that is most important.

“They are having fun, and that’s the most important thing,” Fluhrer said.

No Westhope-Newburg female athletes are out for track this season.