MCVILLE — Chargers softball coach Savannah Kueber said she recently looked at one of her team’s scores from three years ago.
It was a 39-2 loss.
That’s the way things used to go for Nelson County softball.
Just a few short years later, Nelson County/Midkota is coming off a 10-5 season and has hopes of making a state tournament.
“We could not have done it without these girls,” Kueber said. “The attitudes that they’ve had, that fight of wanting to turn this thing around.”
Some of the changes came internally. Bailey Flaagan, the team’s senior catcher, used to play second base. Junior Mya Luehring, the Chargers’ primary pitcher, was not always in the circle.
NC/M has also seen a high turnout for softball. The varsity roster has 19 players listed. It brings a good mix of younger and older players; there’s a strong senior class of six, along with four eighth-graders and four freshmen on the varsity squad.
“I see these seniors and juniors in these eighth-graders,” Kueber said. “And it’s kind of fun to see the program be built, and see that process kind of start again. And just continuing to pass the bat down the line here, and continue to get better year after year. It’s nice to have these underclassmen look up to these good upperclassmen.”
The Chargers cracked a coaches poll earlier this month, coming in at No. 10 in Class B softball. They got off to a 4-0 start, including 2-0 in region play.
They had since lost their last two region games. But NC/M (5-2, 3-2) bounced back Tuesday in McVille, turning in a well-rounded performance in a 10-1 region win over Northern Lights (0-5, 0-2).
“This team has a lot of heart and a lot of fight,” Kueber said. “The best part about this team is we have no quit in us. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down by. It doesn’t matter how cold it is. It doesn’t matter who you are. We don’t care. We’re gonna battle the entire time. We’re gonna stay focused.”
Luehring led the way. She’s become this team’s rock in the circle. Coming off a strong sophomore year, she’s only gotten better and more consistent as an upperclassman. She struck out seven batters over seven innings on Tuesday, allowing just one unearned run. She limited Northern Lights to six hits unofficially.
“She’s a special player,” Kueber said. “She’s one of those players that’s very even-keeled. Nothing rattles her. She’s very composed on the mound, in the box — and it’s nice to have a player lead by example like that on our team.”
Probably the most impressive part about Luehring’s outing was that she didn’t issue any walks.
“She attacked the zone the entire time,” Kueber said. “Challenge hitters. Make our defense work, and we trust our defense. And the fact that she didn’t walk anybody, that was a very big goal here. And going down the stretch, the lower we can keep her pitch count the better.”
The Chargers’ offense didn’t sting the ball a ton in the early innings against pitcher Brynn Mathiason. But they found ways on base, with five walks and two hit-by-pitches over the first two innings. NC/M scored two runs in the first despite not collecting any hits.
“There’s no such thing as a three-run swing, unless it’s over the fence with a couple runners on,” Kueber said. “So we’ve just got to string baserunner after baserunner. Get on top, punch it through the infield and play a little small ball and score runs the good old-fashioned way.”
The Chargers chipped out a single run in the second, fourth and fifth. Their lead was still marginal, at 5-1, through five innings. Northern Lights scored its lone run on a two-out single by Ariah Heinz in the third.
NC/M poured it on with five runs in the sixth inning. Rylee Flaagan and Luehring ripped back-to-back doubles, and the Chargers added to their lead with the help of some errors, wild pitches and stolen bases.
The NC/M offense totaled eight hits and six walks. Luehring and Jenna Sundeen each recorded multi-hit days at the plate.
B. Flaagan, Luehring’s catcher, helped her out by catching a runner stealing in the top of the fifth. Luehring went on to strike out the next two batters.
“Bailey has been one of our key leaders for years,” Kueber said. “And she is somebody that I count on personally, and this team counts on. She is vocal. She sets the tone as our leadoff batter. I cannot say any more nice things about Bailey Flaagan, and she is one of the reasons why this team has turned around the way it has this year.”
A couple of errors kept Northern Lights alive in the seventh. Luehring got behind 3-1 on a batter, but she didn’t budge, keeping her walk-less streak alive. She completed her afternoon with a strikeout.
The Chargers now have things back on track a little bit. They’re back in the win column in region play, keeping them in the top three of a 10-team region.
But they’re not satisfied.
“I still truthfully don’t believe we’ve fully tapped into what this team is truly capable of,” Kueber said. “We have big goals this year, and I don’t care who believes it. We don’t care who believes it. These girls are gonna come out and we’re gonna battle every single day. So we’re excited coming down the stretch.”
NC/M’s next game is a road region game against May-Port-C-G on Thursday, April 30.
The Chargers are looking to secure the best seeding they can going into the postseason.
“We want to make the state tournament. And we think we have the squad to do it,” Kueber said. “It’s just about getting better and better every single day. The record — yeah, it’s nice to have a winning record, but we want to get better. And that is the goal, day after day, week after week, game after game. Getting better for that postseason and playing our best ball.”
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