According to Steve Terhark, becoming the Cowgirl softball head coach was “years in the making.”
“I’ve loved the game for years,” he said. “My daughters played when they were in high school. But the program wasn’t going in the direction I wanted to see.” He feels the girls have worked hard in practice, and that it has been a learning process for him the last few weeks. “Assistant coach Macoy (Rohrer) has been great, and Katrina has helped out as well.”
He feels that a strength of the team is the players attitudes. “We’ve got good kids here, and they all get along well and are positive,” said Terhark. “They want to win. The pitchers and catchers have been working indoors since March. We just have to play to get better.” He believes the key to the season is simply making the routine out. “The program has struggled with that for years,” he said. “Pitching, catching and just working hard will result in improvement.”
Seniors Alaina Friesleben and Kendall Lienemann will be the leaders for the rest. “Alaina is our pitcher, while Kendall is fast in the outfield and can put the ball on the ground while at the plate to advance runners.” He sees two of his three juniors as starters. “Nikki Kapka, Brooke Askelsen and Kaylie Dow will all be in key positions and I wish we had a few more juniors,” said Terhark. “They go hard in practice, and are willing to listen to what we’re trying to do.”
Of his seven sophomores, three will be infielders and one of them will start. “They’re talented, and will see a lot of playing time. They’ll learn and will get better,” he said. He likes his freshmen class on the roster. “Ady Askelsen will be at third, and I have a couple pitchers in that group. There is talent there. Eighth grader Indy Johnson will play a lot also.”
When it comes to the NCC, he feels Algona and Humboldt will still be who the rest of the league are chasing. “Clear Lake is playing well and coming on, and Hampton-Dumont/CAL has a great pitcher returning,” said the coach.
Cowgirls drop first two games in opening week
The ladies in red & black opened with two of those aforementioned favorites in conference play in the first week. Tuesday saw a 13-0 loss to H-D/CAL. Sophomore Karlee Lehman had the only hit, a single, and managed two steals in trying to put some runs up. Another sophomore, Makenna Hasty, also stole a bag. Friesleben pitched one inning, allowing six earned runs on five hits. She walked four and hit one batter. Freshman Nyla Wibholm threw the rest, allowing five earned on two hits with four walks and three hit batters. She had one strikeout.
“We came out a little unnerved,” said Terhark. “We made some infield plays, just not enough of them. Not the best debut I wanted, and the girls were down after the game. We went over everything the next day, and had a good practice.”
That led into a much better effort on Friday in their home opener versus Algona. The 11-4 final score loss saw the Cowgirls plate single runs in the first, fourth, fifth and seventh inning for an improved offensive production. “We led 3-2 in the top of the sixth, so we had a chance but then it got away from us,” he said. “The final score is not indicative of how close we came. We did some good things, and we can now build on this.”
