The “Spirit of the Sandhills” youth softball tournament took place this past weekend in Broken Bow. Over thirty teams from across the state took part in the tournament which was divided into three different age divisions.
The Bow Spirit 16/18U team opened with the Chadron Slammers on Saturday. Chadron controlled the game throughout on their way to a 10-0 win. The Bow Spirit had just two hits in the game coming from Dalila Griffiths and Katelyn Berggren. The Bow Spirit then faced the Columbus Havoc on Saturday. Columbus scored six runs in the 2nd inning to gain the momentum on their way to a 12-2 victory. Joscelyn Coleman helped lead the offense for the Spirit finishing 2 for 2 with 1 RBI. Broken Bow began bracket play on Sunday facing the Nebraska Aftershock. The Aftershock jumped out to a 4-2 lead after two innings and then added three more runs in the third on their way to a 7-2 win. The Spirit dropped down to the Silver Bracket of the tournament and faced the Sandhills Strikers. The Spirit shutout the Strikers 7-0 to advance in the bracket where they played WNS Wildfire. The game went back and forth and was tied 5-5 after 4 innings. The Spirit took the lead with 4 runs in the top of the fifth but WNS scored 5 runs in their final at bat for a 10-9 win. The 16/18U gold medal bracket champion was Force Softball and the Silver medal bracket winner was WNS Wildfire
In the 12U division, the Bow Spirit lost to McCook Mayhem on Saturday 18-1 and then fell to Kelly’s Fastpitch 12U team 14-6. Broken Bow would face Kelly’s Fastpitch again on Saturday evening falling 14-0. On Sunday, the Spirit faced McCook again with McCook winning 8-3. The 12U tournament champion was Kelly’s Fastpitch.
In the 14U division, Broken Bow dropped their opening game of the tournament Saturday morning to the PC Bombers 6-1 but then bounced back to defeat the Hastings Crush later in the day 12-4. Broken Bow faced DMilaco Black Saturday evening in the first game of bracket play falling by a score of 10-0. Broken Bow played in the Silver Bracket of tournament play on Sunday. The Spirit opened bracket play with an impressive 18-1 win over the Cozad Classics. Broken Bow then dropped a tight one to DMilaco Black 4-2 in the semifinals of the Silver Bracket. The 14U gold medal bracket champion was the Nebraska Raptors and the silver bracket winner was Stingers Black 14U.
