DEVILS LAKE — There was a moment in Devils Lake softball’s home opener where senior shortstop Julia McIvor approached sophomore pitcher Emmy Remmick.
Head coach Courtney Loegering recalled McIvor telling Remmick, “Hey, you got this. Deep breath.”
It was Remmick’s first career start in the circle. It was also her first time starting on varsity. As the third inning got away from the Firebirds, the experienced McIvor had Remmick’s back.
“That’s stuff that we don’t have to tell them to do. They just kind of know to take the younger girls under their wings a little bit,” Loegering said. “We’ve got a good senior class.”
In the early going of the 2026 softball season, Devils Lake is trying to solidify its pitching situation.
McIvor started the first two games in the circle. Coming off a 21-5 loss to West Fargo Sheyenne, Devils Lake went with Remmick in Thursday’s game.
“We’re trying to figure out what’s going to work best for us,” Loegering said. “Try to get the chemistry, see what we can do positionally. And it’s not even just pitching; it’s the domino effect of where we’re moving people around, which is a good problem to have. But it’s definitely something where you really have to kind of test your skills as a coach and kind of see what you can work with.”
The Firebirds finally held their home opener on Thursday after a series of weather postponements. It’s been a late-arriving spring around the state.
“It’s definitely a huge change when you go from indoor to outdoor,” Loegering said. “We’ve only been outside for I would say maybe a week’s worth of practice. And it’s a big difference when you get to the dirt. And we’re just grateful to be out here. I know it was a little later than we had expected.”
Though the weather was adequate enough to play, it certainly wasn’t ideal. The wind was blowing at 25 miles per hour. At the start of the game, it was 54 degrees, but 35 with the wind chill.
And it only got worse as the evening went on. By the end of the game, the wind-chill temperature was well below freezing.
“The weather wasn’t in our favor today,” Loegering said. “But just happy to be out and get playing.”
Devils Lake (1-2, 0-4) lost 21-4 in a conference game against Shanley (2-5, 4-2) at Devils Lake High School. It was a close game in hits — four for Shanley, and three for Devils Lake — but the Firebirds issued 16 walks, hit three batters and made eight errors unofficially. The Deacons, through howling winds, ran away with it.
The first two innings went well for Remmick in the circle. Shanley took a 1-0 lead on three errors in the first inning, but Remmick induced nothing but soft contact. She hit a batter to lead off the second, then retired the next three — capped by her first strikeout.
Through two innings, Remmick hadn’t allowed a hit.
“The first two innings were great,” Loegering said.
But once the Deacons got a couple runners on, the damage spiraled into a barrage of baserunners. Shanley drew four consecutive two-out walks to blow it open. The Deacons only had two hits in the inning — both by Ava Klein, the second of which drove in two runs.
Loegering said Remmick’s jump to varsity was an adjustment stamina-wise.
“The difference between pitching JV to varsity is a little bit faster-paced; you’re looking at girls that can hit different places and hit better in the strike zone,” Loegering said. “And so just kind of hitting more of those corners and those spots is something that we’ll have to work on, for sure, with her.”
McIvor took over for Remmick with the score at 10-0.
Shanley ended up sending 18 batters to the plate in the frame. It scored 12 runs on two hits, two errors, nine walks and two hit batters to make it 13-0.
Though Remmick was charged with 13 runs, just one was considered earned.
“I think she did an excellent job for what we had asked of her,” Loegering said. “But now we just kind of know what we have to work on with the elements coming against us here.”
The Deacons batted around again in the fourth, adding six runs on two hits.
They scored two runs without a hit in the fifth.
“We’ve been really trying to work on our pitching,” Loegering said. “The wind did get the best of us today. But I’m really proud of the pitchers as they were fighting through it, and we had to make some things up just with throwing some new people today.”
Senior Taylor Leben had two of Devils Lake’s three hits. She singled in the bottom of the third for the Firebirds’ first hit of the evening. Devils Lake stranded two runners in scoring position.
The Firebirds got on the board in the fourth, as senior Madison Hettwer scored on a dropped third strike.
Leben and Ava Beck had back-to-back hits in the final frame. Two runs scored on a throwing error by the catcher. McIvor stole third base and came home on a wild pitch to make it 21-4.
Devils Lake still fell by run rule despite showing some life at the plate late in the game.
Shanley junior Taelyn Card struck out 10 and didn’t issue any walks in five innings. All four of the runs against her were unearned.
Afterwards, the Firebirds’ focus was on not dwelling over this game. They still have the bulk of the conference schedule in front of them. And they have a mature group with seven seniors leading the way.
Players like McIvor, and junior catcher Beck, have been playing varsity for many years. They’ve been through it before.
“They all kind of help where they need to and when needed,” Loegering said. “The kids really look up to [Ava]. She’s been a leader for a long time.”
The Firebirds are scheduled to travel to Fargo North on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
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